An Affair of the Heart - Wordsmith.org

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#199890 - 05/17/11 06:34 AM An Affair of the Heart
Tromboniator addict Registered: 05/10/10 Posts: 690 Loc: Alaska	I've posted this on another forum, but you people are more like family, so I'd like to ask you: I have noticed in, say, the last two or three years, that in news broadcasts, web interviews, and the like, concerning disasters, wars, and other violence, the results are always "heartwrenching," never "heartrending" anymore. A search of OneLook shows that "heartwrenching" essentially doesn't exist in dictionaries, "heartrending" is universal. A Google search shows 1,750,000 hits for "heartwrenching," 423,000 for "heartrending." Google Ngrams shows "heartwrenching" showing up in books about 1980 (there might be a tiny bump in the late 1930s, or that could be a rendering glitch), with "heartrending" in the lead, and both words increasing. This (Ngram) is American English – "heartwrenching" is apparently very rare in British books. Has anyone else noticed this trend, if trend it is, and is "heartrending" in possible jeopardy? Peter PS: I've been told that "heartrendering" also has a 101,000-hit Google presence.
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#199896 - 05/17/11 10:54 AM Re: An Affair of the Heart [Re: Tromboniator]
tsuwm Carpal Tunnel Registered: 04/03/00 Posts: 10463 Loc: this too shall pass	there must be fifty ways to break one's heart; e.g., heart-piercing, heart-wringing, heart-wrenching, heart-rending - heart-rending is sometimes malapropistically rendered as heart-rendering. "The true ground of action is the outrage and deprivation; the injury the father sustains in the loss of his child; the heart-rendering agony he must suffer in the destruction of his dearest hopes." in any event, I don't think there's a "preferred" form, discounting the lattermost.
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#199906 - 05/17/11 05:06 PM Re: An Affair of the Heart [Re: tsuwm]
Tromboniator addict Registered: 05/10/10 Posts: 690 Loc: Alaska	I don't recall bumping into heart-wringing, and I guess I would interpret heart-piercing as by Cupid's arrow; that is, falling in love, not falling into anguish. In any case, I don't hear any of the variants: heartwrenching seems to be the mot-du-jour.
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#199909 - 05/17/11 07:17 PM Re: An Affair of the Heart [Re: Tromboniator]
LukeJavan8 Carpal Tunnel Registered: 06/23/08 Posts: 5279 Loc: Land of the Flat Water	The 'mot-du-jour' - I like that. _________________________ ----please, draw me a sheep----
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#199911 - 05/17/11 07:36 PM Re: An Affair of the Heart [Re: Tromboniator]
tsuwm Carpal Tunnel Registered: 04/03/00 Posts: 10463 Loc: this too shall pass	Originally Posted By: Tromboniator I don't recall bumping into heart-wringing, and I guess I would interpret heart-piercing as by Cupid's arrow; that is, falling in love, not falling into anguish. In any case, I don't hear any of the variants: heartwrenching seems to be the mot-du-jour. 1718 Pope tr. Homer Iliad IV. xiv. 569 Heart-piercing Anguish struck the Grecian Host. {heh} 1872 W. Black Strange Adventures Phaeton xxiii. 327 What bitterness and grievous heart-wringing. {shrug}
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#199912 - 05/17/11 08:02 PM Re: An Affair of the Heart [Re: tsuwm]
Tromboniator addict Registered: 05/10/10 Posts: 690 Loc: Alaska	Well, it's been a while.
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#199915 - 05/17/11 10:41 PM Re: fifty ways to break one's heart [Re: tsuwm]
Jackie Carpal Tunnel Registered: 03/15/00 Posts: 11578 Loc: Louisville, Kentucky	You just stab it in the back, Jack Toss it in the can, Stan You don't need to be coy, Roy Just get yourself free Throw it under the bus, Gus You don't need to discuss much Just break off the key, Lee And get yourself free (with apologies to Paul Simon)
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#199917 - 05/18/11 12:23 AM Re: fifty ways to break one's heart [Re: Jackie]
tsuwm Carpal Tunnel Registered: 04/03/00 Posts: 10463 Loc: this too shall pass	< g >
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#199919 - 05/18/11 07:30 AM Re: An Affair of the Heart [Re: Tromboniator]
BranShea Carpal Tunnel Registered: 06/23/06 Posts: 5249 Loc: Netherlands, the Hague	"They called to one another with piercing, blood-curdling cries. ..... " (Tolkien) Could this be love???? Oh no no, I associate heart-piercing with above type of cries.
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