# Missing Words I

Originally published: 2012-12-04
Canonical URL: /2012/Dec/missing-words-i/

There are a lot of really important concepts that aren't easy to talk about, because we don't have standard words for them.

Like, there needs to be a word designating the skill or quality of possessing [independent](http://zackmdavis.net/blog/2012/10/dont-resent-that-no-one-cares/) [judgement](http://zackmdavis.net/blog/2012/11/egoism-as-defense-against-a-life-of-unending-heartbreak/)—the ability to make decisions without getting distracted worrying about how to explain yourself to people who won't understand. Part of me wants to just call it _sociopathy_, but that's clearly not the right word.

The problem is endemic. Friend of the blog [Mike Blume](http://dudley-doright.livejournal.com/) once lamented that we don't have a gender-neutral equivalent of _gentlemanly_. And we don't have an atheist equivalent of _doing God's work_, either.