This was in today's newspaper:

quote:

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At this time, we occupy all of Iraq, and rather less of Afghanistan. These irrealistic adventures, while expensive in money and in blood, are more venturesome than most of our past incursions, but otherwise are not radically new. What is different are the provocations.

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I've never seen "irrealistic" but I'd hesitate to call it an error, since the author is a chair-holding professor at Yale.

Comments?

quote:

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Originally posted by shufitz:
since the author is a chair-holding professor at Yale.

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In social sciences or in English?

Well, I can only tell you that irrealistic is not found in dictionary.com nor in Onelook.

Chair or no chair, it's wrong.
The word he wants may be "unrealistic" though something like "ill-advised" might suit better.

Glaubt es mir - das Geheimnis, um die größte Fruchtbarkeit und den größten Genuß vom Dasein einzuernten, heisst: gefährlich leben.
- Friedrich Nietzsche

Read all about my travels around the world here.
Read even more of my travel writing and poems on my weblog.

Now, Shu, is this professor American?

I did find the use of irrealistic all over the Web, especially used by non-Americans. I found some really interesting sites looking for this, including a forum called Warfare HQ with generals from the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and with people stationed all over the world. Interesting!

Here is one way I saw it
used.

I predict we will see this word soon in dictionaries.

bear: In social sciences or in English?
kalleh: Now, Shu, is this professor American?

You can get the text of the entire article by googling "These irrealistic adventures, while expensive in money and in blood,", and going to the cached copy.

The author is no lightweight. He was born in New York in 1930, was educated at Cornell and Yale, is professor of English at NYC as well as a professor of Humanities at Yale, and has received the Gold Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

[This message was edited by shufitz on Sat Oct 18th, 2003 at 17:04.]

has received the Gold Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
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Which speaks ill of the Academy.

Not really. As I said, the term is used all over the Internet. Perhaps he was just trying to be quoted when OED finally decides to define it!

Curious about this author, I went to the Yale Web site and found this link.

He, indeed, sounds as though he knows what he is talking about.