[PEN-L:28215] Re: query

[Gar Lipow <lipowg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

If you don't mind cliches, and will accept a phrase rather than a single
word, how about "head in the sand" - or the ostrich viewpont. (In all
fairness to ostriches it is not actually true that they bury their heads
in the sand as a way of hiding. They are doing for some other reason.)
But "head in the sand" or other references to ostriches do convey
exactly what you are trying to - which is why cliches are often so tempting.

Devine, James wrote:

> What's a good synonym for autism or dereism? I'm looking for the word
> that means that one believes that something doesn't exist after one
> shuts one's eyes (a belief of many very young children) or that only
> one's own perceived reality exists. (Most dictionaries don't have
> "dereism," so it won't do.)
>
> thanks ahead of time.
>
> Jim Devine jdevine@xxxxxxx &  http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine