Literary notes about Asininity (AI summary)
Writers employ "asininity" to denote a kind of foolishness that is both biting and humorously self-aware. It captures a spectrum of idiocy—from personal blunders and self-deprecation, as when a character laments his own asininity [1] or is described as having limitless asininity [2], to broader satirical indictments of society’s absurdities, such as the derided behaviors of managing editors and commercial opportunists [3][4]. The term often appears in playful or ironic contexts, sometimes linking human folly with almost animalistic traits, as when it is equated with the essential nature of an ass [5] or highlighted as an act of sheer imprudence [6].
- I so clearly realised my own asininity that, for the instant, I was speechless.
— from The Twickenham Peerage by Richard Marsh - Evidently there was no limit to Seth’s asininity.
— from Seth's Brother's Wife: A Study of Life in the Greater New York by Harold Frederic - He had marvelled, both publicly and in secret, on the uncompromising asininity of managing editors at odd moments, but he had wasted little time.
— from Wounds in the rain: War stories by Stephen Crane - The ignorance and asininity of generations of tourists have turned seaside merchants into commercial vultures.
— from A Vagabond Journey Around the World: A Narrative of Personal Experience by Harry Alverson Franck - PH.—The essential quality of an ass is asininity.
— from Cobwebs from an Empty Skull by Ambrose Bierce - It surpassed belief—his asininity did; at least he wouldn’t have believed he could be so easily fooled.
— from The Bandbox by Louis Joseph Vance
