Surrealism is one of the best-known isms.
The term ism is used to name a philosophical, literary or artistic current , especially when it is ephemeral. In general, isms are avant-garde movements that are characterized by innovation or their experimental nature.
An ism questions the status quo and seeks to transcend accepted limits. It is common for it to contradict dogmas and try to move or cause an impact. Dadaism , Futurism , Surrealism , Cubism , and Ultraism are some of the best-known isms.
The ism as a current
The naming of a current is a phenomenon that can occur in various ways, both by those who promote the ideas that characterize them and by third parties, contemporaneously or even some time after their disappearance. In the case of philosophical currents, they are understood as a grouping of philosophers carried out for didactic reasons, in order to classify their work, taking into account the features that their way of thinking or acting with respect to philosophical issues have in common.
As can be seen, these movements acquire their name from the suffix that allows the names to be formed. Ism, therefore, is a suffix that serves to construct various nouns.
A suffix with multiple uses
With the suffix -ism you can create nouns that refer to movements , schools or doctrines. We can find examples such as capitalism , socialism and liberalism , in addition to the aforementioned isms linked to the artistic avant-garde.
The suffix -ism also serves to develop nouns that refer to sports : athletics , canoeing , scuba diving , bodybuilding .
Nouns that mean quality or attitude, meanwhile, are also formed using the suffix -ism. In this framework we can find concepts such as conservatism , egoism or Manichaeism .
Scientific terms, finally, are created with the suffix -ism. Among this class of words appear astigmatism and malaria .
With the suffix -ism the noun athletics can be formed, for example.
Isms with little in common
“Socialism has done a lot of damage to this nation”, “Usain Bolt is one of the great historical figures of athletics”, “I'm tired of my sister's selfishness.” y “In the last month, more than twenty cases of malaria were registered in the region” son algunas prayers elaboradas con sustantivos que llevan el prefijo -ismo.
This breadth that characterizes the suffix -ism can lead to confusion, especially if we try to find a common connotation for all the terms that carry it. Let's take three examples that at first glance don't look alike at all: astigmatism, veganism and racism . The first is a refractive problem that is generated when the layer of the eye known as the cornea does not have the same curvature across its entire surface; The second represents the conviction that all living beings have the same rights and that no one should be exploited; The third is an ideology according to which one race should be considered superior to others.
Isthmus, a different concept
It is important not to confuse this term and the suffix that it can also represent with isthmus , a word that serves to define the small strip of land that connects two larger areas by means of the sea. Typically, the isthmus lies between two shores. Since it is the only space of land that unites both sides of the sea, it has a very high strategic value for the army and for commerce.
Why might we confuse these two terms? Although their writing is different, it is very common in most of the accents of our language to soften or even ignore the sounds of certain consonants in everyday speech; The T after the S in a case like this, where it is followed by an M , can be especially difficult to pronounce , especially in the middle of other words.