Epidemic? - Wordsmith.org

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#24201 - 03/24/01 12:38 PM Re: re sense shifts
inselpeter Pooh-Bah Registered: 03/14/01 Posts: 2379 Loc: New York City	Well, maybe you're right. I was very knew in Ger'y when I heard him say that. It was the only thing I understood--and I may not even have understood that much. In future, I will keep my romings to my own affairs. Adieu! IP
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#24202 - 03/24/01 05:54 PM Re: re sense shifts
Max Quordlepleen Carpal Tunnel Registered: 08/12/00 Posts: 3409	Thanks, tsuwm for filling in the background on decimate. I was quite confident that the usage my Chambers calls "loose" was established by the 19th C., and it's nice to know that I was not far off. My view on decimate was that it was a word with a specific, technically correct word usurped for broader use, much the way that the specific, technical definition of epidemic appears to be under threat from a broader use. I shall, however, revel in using "epizootic" just to show off.
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#24203 - 03/25/01 08:42 AM Re: Foot to hoof
BlanchePatch journeyman Registered: 03/02/01 Posts: 76 Loc: New York City	So complicated! I dare not think about why the difference between "blinkers" and "blinders."
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#24204 - 03/26/01 09:27 AM Re: Foot to hoof
belMarduk Carpal Tunnel Registered: 09/28/00 Posts: 2888	What do you mean Blanche? Aren`t they two different things? Here, blinkers are those lights on the backs of cars that blink on and off to tell which side you are turning. It can also be used to describe any light that blinks on and off (like Christmas lights). Blinders are those things you put on a horse's face so that he can only see in front of him; not side to side.
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#24205 - 03/26/01 11:15 AM Re: Foot to hoof
wwh Carpal Tunnel Registered: 01/18/01 Posts: 13858	My dictionary gives "blinders" as synonym for "blinkers" meaning small squares of leather attached to bridle that block the horse's vision of things on either side, to keep it from being disturbed by them;.
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#24206 - 03/26/01 11:40 AM Re:epizootic
Faldage Carpal Tunnel Registered: 12/01/00 Posts: 13653	We should not take lightly the corruption of "decimate" Decimation was originally a punishment meted out to mutinous legions in the Roman army. Everyone was lined up and they counted off by tens. Then every number (e.g.) three was taken out and shot. Well, OK, they didn't shoot them but the effect was the same, they came out of the experience dead. But, Note! Everyone else was scattered about amongst other legions, so the legion that was decimated had no one left in it. Generalizing the definition of decimation to include other effects than just a simple reduction in number by 1/10th seems to me a minor thing to quibble about. Better we should save our energies for whinging about such travesties as referring to naprons as aprons or requiring that money change hands for the word sell to be used
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#24207 - 03/26/01 11:54 AM Re:epizootic
of troy Carpal Tunnel Registered: 10/17/00 Posts: 5400 Loc: rego park	Re: they came out of the experience dead. Did they come out as Debutants? or did they come out of the closet?( -- maybe they didn't have the don't ask/don't tell policy) Just how did they come out? _________________________ my other obsession
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#24208 - 03/26/01 12:01 PM Re:epizootic
Faldage Carpal Tunnel Registered: 12/01/00 Posts: 13653	The spreader of sheep effluvia: they came out of the experience dead. La hija de Dios: Did they come out as Debutants? or did they come out of the closet?( -- maybe they didn't have the don't ask/don't tell policy) Just how did they come out? The spreader of sheep effluvia: Whether or not they had the policy, they were in no condition to tell. You could ask them till you're blue in the face.
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#24209 - 03/26/01 12:29 PM Re:epizootic
of troy Carpal Tunnel Registered: 10/17/00 Posts: 5400 Loc: rego park	or till they were blue-- I am not sure of the "color" progression after death-- (depending on position, etc..) --but this thread has discussed autopsies-- and we do have Dr. Bill, who might have some memory-- (an article in last week's New Yorker pointed out autopies are becoming uncommon in most US hospitals). _________________________ my other obsession
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#24210 - 03/26/01 12:45 PM Re: Foot to hoof
rkay member Registered: 12/13/00 Posts: 144 Loc: London, UK	Interesting - I'd never heard of blinders being synonymous with blinkers. I've always used blinkers for the bits of leather on a horse's bridle. For me, a blinder is a word used to describe something that is absolutely fantastic - eg, a blinder of an idea. This can also be sometimes contracted, as in: 'Henry came up with an absolute blinder'. As to the epidemic/epizootic, I think we're still in denial - I just keep hearing it referred to as a 'crisis'.
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