I like Fun With Words, but this was a tad irritating:
Glossary of Fun Words – What word means to throw out of a window? To dance a child on one’s knees?
Couldn’t they at least choose some relatively obscure words instead of the oh-so-common “fenestrate” [see Random Yak’s correction in comments :-)] and “dandle”? Oh, well, I suppose I’ll check out the link anyway.
Now, this is more like it:
Glossary of Linguistics and Rhetoric – What do euphemism, hendiadys, cacophony, and procatalepsis mean?
I actually had to stop and think about “hendiadys” for a couple of seconds. I can’t recall the last time I used the term in conversation, either, although I am known to commit the heinous act from time to time. *heh*
I thought hendiadys should have had a capital H, wasn’t he mentioned by Homer? lol
Not Homer Simpson. *heh*
Isn’t it technically “de”fenestrate if you’re throwing them out?
Or have I been using that wrong all these years?
This is an important word for lawyers to understand properly.
Actually, yes, Yak. “Fenestrate” actually refers to an architectural feature: window(s). I immediately thought of “The Defenestration of Ermintrude Inch” when I read the comment at “Fun With Words”, but my fingers don’t always type what I think (this comment would have been a perfect example of that phenomenon, but your comment made me re-read it, so I caught a couple of examples before hitting submit. Editing and proof reading are not my strong suit. Well, that and any of the three most common classes of errors of transmission. 😉
Thanks for the catch. I’m leaving my error as record of my sloppy transmission of thought.
Addendum: I can certainly understand where lawyers need to have a firm grasp if this termonology. What’s your record “Salesman Toss”?
BTW, Although I “intended” what is represented–using my WP defaults–as a smiley face to close the parenthesis, I’m letting that stand as sloppy transmission, as well. *sigh* Some days are worse than others. Didn’t even catch that one with my attempt at proofing this comment (although I did catch
twothree in this “BTW” including another in this “BTW” that I missed on first and second re-reading *heh*).BTW again: No, it’s not technically “defenestrate”; it is ACTUALLY “defenestrate”. 🙂 Sorry I didn’t answer your query accurately at first. This IS “one of those days”.
BTW, “The Defenestration of Ermintrude Inch” was early on in my intro to SciFi. For a sixth grade boy with four library cards, wiping out all the Arthur Clarke stuff written prior to 1960 was a week long project–mainly because I couldn’t visit all the libraries I need to in order to “collect” his works all at once. For a youthful reading addict, living in a metro area with multiple municipalities jammed together was a real boon. (I am not including two “non-public” libraries and other sources of reading materials in my “four library cards” comment, because the others were particularly weak in SciFi, although the church library was complete as to C.S. Lewis SciFi and fantasy.) I guess that’s where I learned about my difficulties returning library books–or even borrowing them. I had more than a few times when I’d reached my limit for a library but had a few more books to add to my stack. When I exceeded both that and my mom’s card limit, I did–rarely–sneak additional books out, which meant I had to be ESPECIALLY careful to return them!
30+ books/week was about my average during those years, if I were to discount the church library summer reading program contest. During that reading program time, I even stopped reading encyclopedias and dictionaries, in order to allow more time for “program” books. *heh*
Nowadays, I rarely exceed a book a day, and during times where my time is especially busy, not even that. Some books, like The Founders’ Constitution do take me quite some time to read, largely because they spur me to dig for other source materials than those included, in order to broaden context for my own understanding. Just reading Burke’s “Speech on Conciliation with the Colonies” set me back almost a week digging into more of Burke’s own work–and then that of his political progeny such as F.A. Hayek. Worth the time, though.
Comment bloat: something that happens naturally when Olde Phartes start to wander down memory lane…