The Latin word argutia led to quibble a concept that refers to a deception, one trick or ruse. For example: “The company will try to resort to some trickery to avoid paying what is due”, “We cannot allow them to cancel the elections with a legal trick”, “Through a trick, the man cheated hundreds of retirees”.
Tricks seek to make people believe something that is not true. Take the case of a man who claims to have the ability to levitate. This individual tours different towns and cities to show his ability, charging a ticket to those who want to see him float in the air. Over time, a group of people discover that the man used a mechanism with invisible ropes that actually held him while he pretended to levitate. This trick allowed the trickster to perform his show and earn money by deceiving people.
A sports club, on the other hand, may try to inconvenience its rivals when its football team plays at home. There is no water in the dressing room for the visiting group and the seating benches are broken. The visiting players, on the other hand, must go out onto the playing field by passing under the local tribune, being exposed to shouts and insults of all kinds. These are some tricks that seek to deconcentrate and disturb opponents.
Although it may seem regrettable, in the field of politics this concept appears very frequently, given that government leaders are often quite related to corruption. While a trick devised by a child to avoid a reprimand from his parents can be funny and become an unforgettable anecdote, a twisted plan launched by a country’s government to defraud its people represents a despicable and absolutely damnable.
As you can see, the tricks can be a crime (a scam) or simply be unethical. In both cases, these are behaviors that are usually condemned by society.
All the examples exposed in the previous paragraphs also have to do with the various synonyms of the term argucia. In addition to deceit, trickery and ruse, which are listed at the beginning of the definition, we can cite ruse, cheating, forgery, hoax, hoax, story, compromise, tangle, subtlety, sophistry, resourcefulness and misrepresentation. No matter which one we choose, virtually all of them lead to a woven situation with great ability to somehow manipulate others.
The mill is a key element when developing a ruse, and the perception of the environment. The ideas used to deceive others must be convincing, and this requires not only creativity, but a deep understanding of the recipient’s traits, both emotionally and culturally. The reason for the latter is that the scammer must know the limit beyond which their “victims” would not believe their stories.
For example, taking technology as the main topic, a teenager can invent that his computer accidentally erased all his documents to apologize to his parents for not having presented a practical work at school; Although people increasingly understand computing, it is still normal for people of a certain age not to go beyond the basic functions of a mobile phone, and so the trick might be successful. At a software development company, a story like this could be thoroughly investigated with data rescue programs, so it would not be a good idea. Ultimately, the effectiveness of the trick depends largely on the context.
