Spockish

Spockish

English

Etymology

Spock +‎ -ish

Adjective

Spockish (comparative more Spockish, superlative most Spockish)

1. Resembling or characteristic of the Star Trek character Mr Spock, especially in being excessively logical and emotionless.
   • 1997, Film review: Special: Issues 18-21

     Gary Oldman is pale with pale blue eyes and Spockish ears.

   • 1998, Grace Lee Whitney, Jim Denney, Leonard Nimoy, The Longest Trek: My Tour of the Galaxy (page 89)

     In the early shows, Leonard Nimoy and the various writers and directors struggled to find the Spockish response to emotionally charged situations.

   • 2009, Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence, page 41:

     Rather like the Spockish character Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation, psychology is coming to appreciate the power and virtues of emotions in mental life, as well as their dangers.

   • 2010, Ruth Hubbard, Gilles Paquet, The Case for Decentralized Federalism (page 211)

     It is not driven by the fiction of optimization in the manner of Dr.^[sic] Spock in Star Trek―obsessively using high-tech logic tools. Such a Spockish approach often tends to mis-characterize the nature of the problem when the environment is complex, turbulent and evolving.

2. Characteristic of Benjamin Spock (1903–1998), American pediatrician who introduced elements of psychoanalysis into childcare.
   • 1994, John Barth, Once Upon a Time: A Floating Opera

     Circumcision of the goyim would not become the pediatric norm in America until the Spockish 1950's.

   • 2001, Flavia Alaya, Under the Rose: A Confession, page 307:

     And the two of us, I already a bit refreshed perhaps by an hour's sleep, Harry longing for a touch of baby skin, would conspire to break the Spockish law and sneak him across the hall to spend some time with us in bed.

Synonyms

• (Benjamin Spock): Spockian
• (Mr Spock): Spockian