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Jul 14, 2026
This week’s theme
Words with multiple meanings

This week’s words
arete
coprology

coprology
Artist’s Shit No. 014, 1961
Metal, paper, and artist’s shit
Art: Piero Manzoni / MoMA

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coprology

PRONUNCIATION:
(kuh-PROL-uh-jee)

MEANING:
noun:
1. The scientific study of excrement.
2. Pornographic material.
3. Language, literature, or art dealing with excretory matters in a prurient or humorous manner.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek kopro- (dung) + -logy (study). Earliest documented use: 1856.

NOTES:
A better-known synonym of today’s word is scatology. Other words from the same Greek root include coprolalia (compulsive or uncontrollable use of obscene language) and coprolite (fossilized dung). Lexicography leaves no stone unturned; coprology leaves no turd unstoned.

USAGE:
“There’s a hint of Terry Gilliam-style coprology in the visualisation of the airborne machine inside a giant meatball, squeezing out food through its fleshy bowels (Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away had similar scatological overtones).”
Andrew Osmond; Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs; Sight and Sound (London, UK); Dec 2009.

“A large part of [the author Lyndal Roper’s] story is the sheer coarseness of [Martin Luther’s] language, the deranged coprology that fed his many hatreds, in particular of the Jews and of the popes.”
A.N. Wilson; When Faith Found Its Article 50; New Statesman (London, UK); Jul 29, 2016.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Live your life as an experiment. -Pema Chodron, Buddhist nun and author (b. 14 Jul 1936)

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