watsonian
/wɑtˈsoʊ.ni.ən/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.19 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
4
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Resembling or characteristic of the character Dr. Watson from the Sherlock Holmes stories.
adj
Resembling or characteristic of the character Dr. Watson from the Sherlock Holmes stories.
Slang
adj
Of or pertaining to John B. Watson (1878–1958), American psychologist.
Example Sentences
- "I would accept that many of them behave like humans born on earth would, but that must be an artefact of poor translation or our poor understanding of their motives and objectives [Watsonian] or lack of vision on the writers part [Doylist - to borrow some terms from the Bujold mailing list - think 'as written by' Dr Watson or by Arthur Conan Doyle]."
- "IIRC, Wells specifically described the choice of Southern England as being as much about "bridgehead" as about "decapitation strike". I think he said something about settling in to the island and building up strength before spreading out to the continent and planet.¶ That's the Watsonian explanation of course, the Doyleist explanation is that he was writing an allegory of white men wiping about the Tasmanians, from the point of view of the Tasmanians. He needed to set it where his English readers would be horrified by the destruction, and the Martian invasion of Korea or Florida or Sri Lanka, or even Ireland, wouldn't have had as much of an impact."
- "While fans recognize and do engage in Doylist readings, they tend to find Watsonian readings more engaging. Fan fiction writers in particular engage with the text intradiegetically."
- "I think the best Watsonian explanation is that shopkeepers aren't quite right in the head. They know that most players intend to rob them blind, but don't understand how the successful ones are doing it."
- "Watsonian behaviorism"
Etymology
From Watson + -ian. The “in-universe” (sense 1.1) sense formed in reference to Dr. John Watson, the fictional author within the text of the Sherlock Holmes stories, in contrast to Arthur Conan Doyle as the real author of the stories (compare Doylist). The term was coined in the Sherlock Holmes fandom before spreading to other fandoms. It possibly originated in the The Baker Street Irregulars fan club and entered science fiction fandom slang via the Lois McMaster Bujold mailing list.
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /wɑtˈsoʊ.ni.ən/
- British English: /wɒtˈsəʊ.ni.ən/
Usage
Inflected Forms
more Watsonian (comparative)
most Watsonian (superlative)