Tightrope walking satirical or acidic contexts. Nicholas Taleb uses the phrase in his book "The Black Swan". "You get respect for doing funambulism or spectator sports". Taleb is criticising scientists who prefer popularism to vigorous research and those who walk a fixed and narrow path rather than explore a large field of empirical study. Tightrope walking Tightrope walking, also called funambulism, is the skill of walking along a thin wire or rope. It has a long tradition in various countries and is commonly associated with the circus. Other skills similar to tightrope walking include slack rope walking and slacklining. Acrobats maintain their
Four-letter word category includes words that are euphemistic evasions of "stronger" words, as well as those that happen to be short and have both an expletive sound to some listeners as well as a sexual or excretory meaning (many also have other, non-vulgar meanings): "" (US), "", "", "" (US), "" (UK, NZ, AUS), "" and "", as several examples. Finally, certain four-lettered terms with limited usage can be considered offensive by some, within the regional dialect in which they are used, such as "" and "mary". Occasionally the phrase "four-letter word" is humorously used to describe common words composed of four