The Quest for the Crockus (of shit)
Ann Bartow David S. Cohen has been having a lot more fun this week than I have. She’s He’s been following the Quest for the Crockus over at Language Log, but I’m just now getting caught up.
Here are the week’s posts from Language Log, in order:
September 17: How big is your crockus? — The first appearance of the “crockus”! Mysterious brain-sex educator roams the country, distributing hand-outs!
September 18: High Crockalorum — A daring theory. Dr. Alfred Crockus is revealed!
September 19: Dr. Alfred Crockus and Crosley Shelvador, M.D. — A poignant trip down memory lane.
September 20: Crosley Shelvador comes in from the cold — A confession, and the search for Dr. Crockus continues!
September 21: Dr. Crockus in Central New Jersey — A fresh sighting!
September 22: The Crockus and the Bassoon — Ladies and gentlemen, we have now reached Shatnervana.
By all means, do read the entire series. It’s delightful.
Of course, if you’re the kind of person who reads things like this, you’re probably not the kind of person who needs to read things like this. You’re probably not the kind of person who buys books on “brain sex” and sends me unintentionally hilarious messages telling me that it’s an “established scientific fact” that men and women’s brains are wired completely differently, and that I just need to get over my hysterical pink self and yield to scientific rigor.
P.S. I need to change the name of this category to make it more inclusive, because this story isn’t about ev-psych, exactly, but rather the closely related fields of “craptastic pop neuroscience” and “cashing in on the brain-sex craze.” Any suggestions?
13 Responses to “The Quest for the Crockus (of shit)”
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therealUK says:
Well, personally I was very pleased to see the ev-psych bullshit category appear on your blog, so perhaps an additional category for the craptastic neurocrap, whilst preserving the original ev-psych as well ?
btw – is this crockus thing really for real or a huge prank ? So hard to tell nowadays.
September 23rd, 2007 at 7:45 am EST -
The Ghost of Violet says:
If there’s a prank, I don’t think it’s being played by Mark Liberman at Language Log, who appears to be as perplexed (and as highly amused) as everybody else. That Hodgins guy, though — god knows what is going on there.
What about “Ev Psych and other biological gender bullshit”?
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The Ghost of Violet says:
Actually I’ve just now realized that it wasn’t Ann who posted about the crockus at Feminist Law Professors, but David S. Cohen. Heh — sorry! I’m so used to associating FLP with Ann that I forget she has other contributors.
I’m embarrassed that I missed that, since my very large feminine crockus should enable me to catch details like that. I wonder if the crockus shrinks as a woman approaches menopause?
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B. Dagger Lee says:
I’d like to see Dan Hodgin’s credentials. Presumably he’s being paid sack-loads of cash to give these talks. Hmm, why do I think his cv contains false info, too?
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kristi says:
It is the detailed section of the brain, a part of the frontal lope. It is the detailed section of the brain.
And to think that after all those years of college I don’t even know where the frontal lope is!
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The Ghost of Violet says:
And to think that after all those years of college I don’t even know where the frontal lope is!
Possibly near the jackalope?
You know, I’m going to confess here that I feel sorry for Dan Hodgins, although I shouldn’t because there’s no telling the damage he’s done with these presentations all over the place. But I feel sorry for him because I think he’s probably kind of dumb and possibly a drunk, and his career as an “internationally known presenter” is about to end. I’m worried about him. Seriously.
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Paul Tergeist says:
FINALLY! A story about a woman firing a man for the best of reasons!
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j0lt says:
You’re probably not the kind of person who buys books on “brain sex” and sends me unintentionally hilarious messages telling me that it’s an “established scientific fact” that men and women’s brains are wired completely differently, and that I just need to get over my hysterical pink self and yield to scientific rigor.
Funny how in this context “scientific rigor” sounds like some kind of ad for Viagra.
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j0lt says:
Aack. Okay, that top part was supposed to be a blockquote from GoV’s post.
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The Ghost of Violet says:
I dragged it into the Secret Comment Workshop and fixed it.
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K.A. says:
I say “The Essential Difference,” after Simon Baron-Cohen’s briiiilliant theory that autism is caused by two geeks marrying: Geek+geek=autistic baby, but apparently, to Baron-Cohen, “geek” (smart) is code for “male brain”. So all of those geeky women churning out babies just have…male brains.
Once again, behind every brilliant man is a loyal and dedicated woman who cleans his house, and behind every brilliant woman is the man living in her brain.
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therealuk says:
Once again, behind every brilliant man is a loyal and dedicated woman who cleans his house, and behind every brilliant woman is the man living in her brain.
Lol. Or the husband who gave her all her ideas really.
Baron-Cohen is definitly one for the ev-psych Hall of Knobs as well.
PS Violet how about Neuroknobbery to go with your Evpsychbullshit one ?
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K.A. says:
Haha. Neuroknobbery is a good one! I guess I should shorten my Baron-Cohen-inspired suggestion to Ess-Diff-Dolts. I’m tired of essdiff-doltery and neuroknobbery!
