# Driving me crazy...I need help with a word **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [November 25, 2023, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-me-crazy-i-need-help-with-a-word/993662 "2023-11-25T01:37:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-me-crazy-i-need-help-with-a-word/993662/21 "2023-11-25T04:03:31Z")
> [@Latimera](#): > > Thanks all. The situation I am dealing with is one where a project has gone south and they are trying to cover their ass by shifting the blame to other people. They are relating events that did not happen the way they say…including telling the people they are trying to shift the blame to, that they did things that they didn’t. Telling someone that they did X when they really did Y seems like gaslighting to me. > > No? That sure sounds like _scapegoating_ as I’ve known it. There’s also the corollary: having to sit on subordinates’ good ideas until sufficient time has passed for plausible deniability when you implement them and take all the credit. I’ve never heard the term for that. ---
**Author:** ![Latimera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/latimera/32/497_2.png) [@Latimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latimera)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-me-crazy-i-need-help-with-a-word/993662/22 "2023-11-25T04:19:29Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > That sure sounds like _scapegoating_ as I’ve known it. Hmmmm…that’s a good suggestion. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Latimera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/latimera/32/497_2.png) [@Latimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latimera)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-me-crazy-i-need-help-with-a-word/993662/23 "2023-11-25T04:20:43Z")
Yeah…it was really bothering me! Even if its not the right word to use, it is a relief to have the word I was trying to remember! ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-me-crazy-i-need-help-with-a-word/993662/24 "2023-11-25T04:22:59Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > That sure sounds like _scapegoating_ as I’ve known it. > > There’s also the corollary: having to sit on subordinates’ good ideas until sufficient time has passed for plausible deniability when you implement them and take all the credit. I’ve never heard the term for that. - Standard Corporate Procedure. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-me-crazy-i-need-help-with-a-word/993662/25 "2023-11-25T04:27:45Z")
Cultures that rely upon self-promotion always resort to mutual denunciation. ---
**Author:** ![saucywench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@saucywench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saucywench)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-me-crazy-i-need-help-with-a-word/993662/26 "2023-11-25T04:32:21Z")
speciousness? fallaciousness? chicanery? sophistry? I wonder why it red-lined fallaciousness? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-me-crazy-i-need-help-with-a-word/993662/27 "2023-11-25T04:35:05Z")
“passing the buck” “weaseling” ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-me-crazy-i-need-help-with-a-word/993662/28 "2023-11-25T07:37:12Z")
> [@Latimera](#): > > Even if its not the right word to use, it is a relief to have the word I was trying to remember! No, that’s not the word you were trying to remember. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-me-crazy-i-need-help-with-a-word/993662/29 "2023-11-25T07:38:37Z")
> [@Latimera](#): > > Revisionism fits, but it isn’t the word I’m looking for. “Revisionist history” is a little better. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-me-crazy-i-need-help-with-a-word/993662/30 "2023-11-25T08:08:33Z")
Am I the only one who thought this thread had something to do with a crossword puzzle? ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-me-crazy-i-need-help-with-a-word/993662/31 "2023-11-25T13:47:58Z")
Brings to mind there was a time in Hollywood where several sitcoms used the same technique - replay some event in flashback over and over from the point of view of several characters, each narrating their version, each embellishing the story and altering assorted facts to make themselves the hero and not the person at fault. (I specifically remember an episode of _Odd Couple_ that did this, but I remember several other sitcoms about the same time) ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-me-crazy-i-need-help-with-a-word/993662/32 "2023-11-25T14:08:37Z")
Rashomoning. They did it on All in the Family too ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-me-crazy-i-need-help-with-a-word/993662/33 "2023-11-25T14:14:59Z")
It’s not gaslighting, but people are calling any deception gaslighting now. They don’t understand the origins of the word, and even if explained they don’t get it. So might as well call it gaslighting now. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2023, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-me-crazy-i-need-help-with-a-word/993662/34 "2023-11-25T14:15:29Z")
> **["Rashomon"-Style - TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RashomonStyle)** > > A Rashomon-Style story is where the same event is recounted by several characters, and the stories differ in ways that are impossible to reconcile. It shows that two or more people can view the same event quite differently. The author invites the … ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2023, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-me-crazy-i-need-help-with-a-word/993662/35 "2023-11-26T04:22:53Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > replay some event in flashback over and over from the point of view of several characters, each narrating their version, each embellishing the story and altering assorted facts to make themselves the hero and not the person at fault. ( That’s what I call a sticky situation. ---
**Author:** ![saucywench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@saucywench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saucywench)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2023, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-me-crazy-i-need-help-with-a-word/993662/36 "2023-11-26T06:50:01Z")
spurious spuriousness ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2023, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-me-crazy-i-need-help-with-a-word/993662/37 "2023-11-26T19:23:17Z")
‘Confabulation’ is a great word which almost fits the OP, though it seems to only refer to the unknowing fabrication of past events by those with brain injuries and such, in order to maintain a coherent mental conception of reality. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2023, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-me-crazy-i-need-help-with-a-word/993662/38 "2023-11-26T19:40:52Z")
Can i suggest calling it out as ‘blame-shifting’ or ‘revisionism’? ---
**Author:** ![saucywench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@saucywench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saucywench)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-me-crazy-i-need-help-with-a-word/993662/39 "2023-11-27T04:27:48Z")
Concerning your second choice,…you might want to read the OP. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-me-crazy-i-need-help-with-a-word/993662/40 "2023-11-27T04:47:39Z")
> [@saucywench](#): > > …you might want to read the OP. 😁 Yes, it might actually help for me to do that occasionally, but I think it just delays people from receiving my unqualified wisdom direct from my brain. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-me-crazy-i-need-help-with-a-word/993662.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-me-crazy-i-need-help-with-a-word/993662.md?page=3)