# Missing Words IV

Originally published: 2013-10-15
Canonical URL: /2013/Oct/missing-words-iv/

You hear people accusing their enemies of being _morally_ or _intellectually bankrupt_, and they mean it [in the sense of](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bankrupt) "destitute of, or wholly lacking (something)", rather than the sense of financial insolvency. But I actually would like to see the insolvency metaphor: people should speak of _declaring intellectual bankruptcy_ to mean "I was wrong before; I won't try to defend my previous claims because I can't" (in analogy to "I won't try to pay my debts, because I can't").