the.com/pundit
Someone paid to be confident on television, correctness optional.
means A person who offers expert opinions and commentary, especially in media, on a subject they are presumed to know well.
from From Hindi/Sanskrit 'pandit,' meaning a learned scholar or teacher versed in Sanskrit, law, religion, or philosophy — a figure of genuine deep study. British colonists in India borrowed the word into English in the 1600s–1800s, initially preserving that sense of respected scholarship. Over time, especially in 20th-century American usage, it drifted toward anyone who talks authoritatively in public — the scholarly gravitas intact, the actual scholarship increasingly optional.
- origin
- from Sanskrit pandita, meaning learned scholar
- irony
- forecasting accuracy often below random chance
- business model
- being interesting beats being right
- tell
- certainty scales inversely with evidence