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From same source:
"two peremptory little boys" Perhaps = demanding?
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Carpal Tunnel
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More than just demanding, I think, especially as demanding now has the idea of requiring lots of energy and work -- could be because they need extra care for various reasons.
These boys don't ask for things they TELL you in no uncertain terms what they want and they want it NOW.
Bingley
Bingley
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Peremptorily is often used by playwrights to indicate emotional shading in a line of dialogue.
i.e.
John: (peremptorily) That's the way I expect it to be, and that's the way it'll stay.
Peremptorily was a direction used frequently by O'Neill, BTW.
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Carpal Tunnel
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i only know this word as a legal word.. an unchallangable removal of a juror..
both sides in a criminal case get a set number of peremtory challenges.. (that is a set number of people they can eliminate from the juror pool, with no stated reason..
basicly on demand...) so yeah, demanding would be the idea.
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Carpal Tunnel
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My problem was that I could understand the boys having a peremptory manner, but not the boys themselves being so described.
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Carpal Tunnel
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"offensively self-assured or given to exercising usually unwarranted power" [Onelook.com]
The above defintion would fit those peremptory boys.
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I still say their manner was peremptory, not the boys.
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Carpal Tunnel
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In reply to:
a : characterized by often imperious or arrogant self-assurance <how insolent of late he is become, how proud, how peremptory -- Shakespeare>
Well, wwh, it appears that MW online quotes the Bard himself dubbing someone as being peremptory.
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Dear WW: I would regard the Shakespeare quate as an ellipsis. Let's see you make an ellipsis of the Henry James quote that is not rather clumsy.
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wwh, I think you're beating a dead horse. I've checked several dictionaries that use the person direct as the noun modified by the adjective peremptory. It may sound odd to your ear because it is an adjective not heavily used to modify people-as-nouns. But it still is an adjective that can be correctly used to describe a person. I haven't read any note from any usage board against the usage you dislike.
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