Ultracrepidarianism

Ultracrepidarianism is the habit of giving opinions and advice on matters outside of one's knowledge.

The term "ultracrepidarian" was first publicly recorded in 1819 by the essayist William Hazlitt in a letter to William Gifford, the editor of the Quarterly Review. ["A Letter to William Gifford, Esq. from William Hazlitt," published by John Miller in London; reprinted in Howe, pp. 11-59. The word had been used by Hazlitt a year earlier, however, in the unpublished "A Reply to 'Z'", 1818, "ibid.", pp. 1-10. Hazlitt's editor, P.P. Howe, believes that the coiner of the term might possibly not have been Hazlitt, but perhaps his friend Charles Lamb; "ibid.", p. 251.] : "You have been well called an Ultra-Crepidarian critic." [At first, the term bore a hyphen, following the editorial practice of the day. "A Letter to William Gifford", in Howe, p. 16.] It was used again four years later in 1823, in the satire by Hazlitt's friend Leigh Hunt, "Ultra-Crepidarius: a Satire on William Gifford".

The term draws from a famous comment purportedly made by Apelles, a famous Greek artist to a shoemaker who presumed to criticise his painting.Pliny, "Natural History." Book xxxv. Sect. 84.] The Latin phrase, "Ne supra crepidam judicaret", as set down by Pliny and later altered by other Latin writers to "Ne ultra crepidam judicaret", can be taken to mean that a shoemaker ought not to judge beyond his own soles. That is to say, critics should only comment on things they know something about. [Quinion, "Ultracrepidarian".]

Notes

References

*Bergman, Gregory. "Isms". Adams Media, 2006. ISBN 1593374836. [http://books.google.com/books?id=QUVuSNM5QUQC&pg=PA242&lpg=PA242&dq=ultracrepidarianism+hazlitt&source=web&ots=kNhL1Yb4Xi&sig=RG7Wn6i--KIw5Qdj4FdQphHqSfk#PPA242,M1 p. 242] .
*Howe, P.P. ed. "The Complete Works of William Hazlitt", vol. 9 (1932)
*Hazlitt, William. "The Spirit of the Age" (1825)

External links

[http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Essays/Hazlitt/SpiritAge/Gifford.htm An essay] by Hazlitt on William Gifford.
[http://www.ourcivilisation.com/smartboard/shop/prstlyjb/hazlitt/index.htm Online version] of J.B. Priestly's biography of Hazlitt.
[http://worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-ult1.htm] Quinion, Michael. "Ultracrepidarian" (2003).