Persistophilia (n.)

The deeply held opinion, which ultimately turns out to be correct (although this can only ever be known in retrospect), that one will be successful by virtue of strenuously repeating the same mistakes or actions over and over again. Characterised in common folklore by the popular saying, ‘If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again’.

The first recorded example of a successful conversion to persistophilia, and the source of the above popular saying, comes from the soon-to-be-King of Scotland, Robert the Bruce, who was converted from abject rejectionism while sitting in a cave watching a persistophile spider attempting to reconstruct a web after he kept tearing it down.

Antonym: ‘repetitionism’.

Posted on Monday - April 25, 2005 at 09:37 AM

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Persistophilia (n.)

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