Why this word is great
MATAEOTECHNY — [Noun] An unprofitable or pointless science, skill, or activity. From the Ancient Greek ματαιοτεχνία (mataiotekhnía, "a useless art or skill"), from μάταιος (mataios, "vain, futile") and τέχνη (tékhnē, "art, skill"). Unlike "applied science" (which bends knowledge to utility) or "productive art" (which yields something of worth), mataeotechny is the craftsmanship of the obsolete, the beautiful irrelevance of expertise without demand. It is the scholar who memorizes a dead language’s irregular verbs, the watchmaker who repairs clocks for ghosts, the alchemist who still seeks the philosopher’s stone long after the world has moved on—proof that futility, too, can be a kind of devotion.