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For the last couple of years I’ve been signed up to Dictionary.com’s Word of the Day email. Sometimes they’re useful, sometimes I don’t even read them. Sometimes I already know the word and become awashed with pride, like a virtual pat on the back for my otherwise faltering vocabulary. And sometimes they make me laugh:
defenestrate \dee-FEN-uh-strayt\, transitive verb:
To throw out of a window.
Now, I’m sure many people are already aware of this word and will scoff at my comparative ignorance, but it caught my attention as being a possible contender for the most pointless word in the English language. Not because its meaning isn’t valid, it just seems so overly specific. When would it ever be necessary to reduce the phrase “throw out of a window” to a single word? And a long, intimidating one at that. Despite this, I decided that I quite like the word and will attempt to incorporate it into conversations from now on.
The example of usage just topped it off:
I defenestrated a clock to see if time flies!
– Lane Smith, 1998
Oh Dictionary.com, you jokers.
Feel free to post the most bizarre word you know, so I can commit it to the ‘useless information’ section of my memory.
Posted by Vicky on June 20th, 2008.In Ramblings |
Hello world!
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Moved hosts, will be back to blogging soon.
:)
Edit // Alright, update blogs are boring but I’m keeping this up, partly because I enjoy the friendly comment from Mr Wordpress. But basically I haven’t uploaded any of my portfolio or the ‘etc’ section yet because, to be frank, they were always pretty pointless. So I’ll revamp them and then put them back up.
Posted by Vicky on June 18th, 2008.In Announcements |
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