Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

Hello, Readers!

Something funny happened the other day as I was writing a Post.  I realized that I hardly ever use contracted words in (these Posts)! Parentheses, sure I love those! and….and italics!! and ‘quotation marks’ (except I can never decide which is supposed to be used, the double or the single…*). And then there are the little number thingies**, they totally add a sense of scholarship to these lettres!  It is funny (“see”?!!) how the tendency to misuse tools is demonstrated, especially when the need to do something is greater than the desire to learn the correct way to do it. And god bless bullet points and block quotes! (motto: “got little to say, but a lot of space to fill?”)
In the very beginning of this blog we wrote something to the effect:

“If my great-grandfather had been given the Wakefield Doctrine, he might have gone to the village Printer and had a hundred pamphlets typeset and printed. Then, if he was as obsessed with it as I am, he might have stood on a street corner in town (or maybe in the Village Commons) and invited passerby’s to take and read one of his tracts. (He would have explained, in total sincerity to anyone who asked, that “the Wakefield Doctrine was a way of looking at people and how they act³ and that it was a jovial pastime”⁴
In the course of doing this (my great++ grandfather) might have acquired a reputation of being an odd, but somehow interesting fellow. (At which point, someone would offer, “He was so intelligent as a child, imagine what he could have accomplished if he had only applied himself” and everyone would nod in agreement)
But he would continue to stand out in the Village Commons and offer his odd little gift to his friends and neighbors and the occasional visitor from a foreign land (these people were his secret dream…to have the Doctrine carried overseas where, for reasons he did not feel the need to examine, the Doctrine would flourish and grow). But time would pass and over the years he would acquire 50 or maybe even 100 people who would read his insight into the human condition.

Today I am sitting in front of a computer and I am typing Post Number 557 of the Wakefield Doctrine blog and when I hit ‘Publish’ I will effectively print a million pamphlets and metaphorically run through a hundred thousand Mall parking lots, sticking this on a million parked cars and then stand on a digital Village Common and shout (in Dolby MMCL.5), the message: “the Wakefield Doctrine is a unique and productive and fun way to understand the people in our lives! Never will you have to wonder, “Why would they go and do a thing like that? I really thought I knew them better!”
And we have people from all over the world stop (by intent or in boredom or by accident) by and read our Wakefield Doctrine.
(If our ancestor had been bored enough and had the wherewithal, he might have added to his efforts to spread the message by offering the use of his horse and carriage one  evening each week!)

But what we do have are Downsprings like Ms AKH and DS#1 and Claire and Molly and Friends of the Doctrine in the form of Nell Rose and Jasmine Tea and “Mel” and them. And we Drive on Saturdays and we trade Commentationary Jibes⁵    but contractions?

No, no we do not have Contractions or contracted words.  Maybe next year!

* and footnotes, god! those are fun! It’s like having a whole ‘nother person to write with!!

2) and when did the term ‘thingie’ get feminized? Everytime I use it, I think, ‘ok…but this is still so not going to get you a call from the Editor of the New Yorker!

3) he would not have used the word personality theory and the term did not come into common usage until early 20th Century

4) hey, this is supposed to be the 1700s  they were not ‘into’ fun

5) oh yeah, we also like to make words up!⁶

6) there is an element of hyper-developed confidence in the intellect that is found in clarks, that simply says, “people will think I am stupid because I use those made-up words? yeah as if