I need one of those German words

[lokifan]

Does anyone know if there's a specific term for the moment when someone who would otherwise be a trusted source on something they know much more about than you do, confidently says something that you know for a fact isn't true? And the way it makes everything else they say, about things where you wouldn't know if it's true or not, less credible?

It's such a specific thing, I feel like “loss of credibility” is too general. And sort of implies something more negative than I really mean here, where it's usually more about over-generalising or missing something than anything too dishonest or flagrantly wrong.

There are a bunch of examples from when I've been reading non-fiction and I've seen an argument wobble, but the moment I always think of is when an ungrad professor teaching a module on “The Literature of Desire” – basically Freudian analysis – said something about how people kiss in every culture. I knew for a fact that wasn't true; my mum had mentioned it, and her Master's degree in anthropology from SOAS gave her more credibility with me than this guy, I guess!

But I was twenty, and I couldn't remember which culture (cultures, probably?) specifically didn't kiss, and had found it weird when introduced to the concept – just that it was West African – so I wimped out of saying anything. Still, I heard everything he said more sceptically after that.

IDK. I need one of those German words.

Comments

[isis]

Heh. Dunningkrugerization?

[(Anonymous)]

I am stealing this word.

[bruttimabuoni]

I think it's an idol with feet of clay - not specifically regarding credibility, and come to think of it that's not the most acceptable metaphor any more. But that sense that something you respected has turned out weaker and less impressive than you thought and you can't forget that now.

[mothwing]

Well, in German, compounds are created by sticking words together like legos, so you could do "Quellenvertrauensverlust", i.e., "loss of trust in a source", (kwe-linn-feah-traoo-inns-feah-loost) but it's not a word that's used a lot. "Vertrauensbruch" (breach of trust) could work, implying that there was an established trust that's now been broken, or "Vertrauensverlust", which describes that there existed a level of trust and one party has now lost it.

Regardless of the word, that sucks, I'm sorry!