Thorstein Veblen

I have found my new favorite economist, not so much for what he talked about, but rather because of the method that he used to talk about it. Take, for example, this passage (yes, I realize there will be eye glazing, but I still have to share).

If we are getting restless under the taxonomy of a monocotyledonous wage doctring and a cryptogamic theory of interest, with involute, loculicidal, tomentous and moniliform variants, what is the cytoplasm, centrosome, or karyokinetic process to which we may turn, and in which we may find surcease from the metaphysics of normality and controlling principles? What are we going to do about it? The question is rather, What are we doing about it?

In the article I'm reading, the sentence preceding this is, "An excerpt from the same article, where Veblen attempts to denigrate conventional economics by employing the nomenclature of botanical classification, show his style at its worst."

I think I'll include the earlier excerpt tomorrow, once this paper is done. It's highly entertaining.

PS I've decided I will name my next pet "Thorstein" and it will go by "Thor" for short.