My mini-contest garnered two entries. Brock proposed “alleged,” while my fellow Ole Miss alum Scott proposed “perceived.” Since “perceived” was the word I had in mind when I wrote the post, Scott wins the Signifying Nothing no-prize of having his name mentioned in my blog, along with my pity for knowing me well enough to read my thoughts.

I actually went with “public policy is a government plan of action that is intended to solve a perceived societal problem,” because I like adding words to definitions for amusement value. So, if you’re one of the lucky students in Dr. [redacted]’s American Government class at [redacted] University, you will be regaled with 50 minutes of quality lecture time on U.S. public policy from yours truly at 1 p.m. [redacted] Daylight Time on Monday, complete with color transparencies. Don’t forget reading material for the slow parts!