Our brains are so big, we now know, partly for the same reason that a peacock has such remarkable tail feathers, a lyrebird has such an astonishing song, or a baboon has such a spectacularly vermillion ass: sex appeal. It's our brains that make us sexy, and the main way they make us sexy is through our capacity to communicate - although we can't be sure exactly how complex language is for other species, we can be very sure that none is more linguistic than ourselves. And because it's all about getting our chance to reproduce, our great big brains are attuned to no subject quite so well as they are attuned to understanding other people.

No wonder, then, that we have so many words for complex, abstract human experiences and feelings! A lot of people are very fond of the German Schadenfreude,  the enjoyment of the misfortune of others. There's hubris, a Greek word for pride or arrogance that exceeds acceptable limits, and amukadari, the Japanese word that literally means "descent from heaven", and is used to describe the sometimes-corrupt practice of retiring from the government to work in the industry you used to regulate.

Or how about Treppenwitz, or the even better  l'esprit de l'escalier, which both describe the experience of thinking of that brilliant rejoinder just a bit too late as (loosely translated), "staircase wit"? Isn't it great that we have a word for the feeling of being alone in the woods (German Waldeinsamkeit)? There's another for resolving a problem in a way that makes everyone involved happy (Arabic taaradhin); another for people who won't stop asking questions (Russian pochemuchka); a Yaghan word,  mamihlapinatapai, that has been translated as "a look shared by two people with each wishing that the other will initiate something that both desire but which neither one wants to start", which I assume applies to most first kisses; and, last but not least, litost, a Czech word for the sudden shock, rage, and anxiety we experience when we realise how miserable we actually are.

What's great about these words, I think, is that despite how complex and difficult to define they may seem, they all describe states that are quite familiar and easily recognised once we hear the definition.

That last one, litost, is getting us close to the word I think we need to coin. Of course, McCainenfreude doesn't quite cut it, but you get the idea. It's the word for the flailing, addled, out of control state we fall into when we are losing all realistic hope of acquiring something that we have felt entitled to for as long as we can remember, and which leads us to make rash, desperate, impulsive decisions that fruitlessly incinerate our entire lifetime's stock of dignity, pride, self-respect, and good reputation.

I think it's a familiar idea that's worthy of a word all of its own. Certainly at least one Democrat would recognise that state, having come perilously close to it toward the end of the primaries.... but thanks to John McCain, I think it's destined to be a Republican sort of word.

 Any suggestions?