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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
An extra word for today. I got this in an e-mail just now. Part of a series of jokes!
peripeteia • \peh-ruh-puh-TEE-uh or peh-ruh-puh-TYE-uh\ • (noun)
: a sudden or unexpected reversal of circumstances or situation especially
in a literary work
Example sentence:
In the last act of the play, the king's decision to avenge his brother leads
to an abrupt peripeteia that leaves him bereft of his throne and his family.
Did you know?
"Peripeteia" comes from Greek, in which the verb "peripiptein" means "to
fall around" or "to change suddenly." It usually indicates a turning point
in a drama after which the plot moves steadily to its denouement. In his
Poetics, Aristotle describes the peripeteia as the shift of the tragic
protagonist's fortune from good to bad—a shift that is essential to the plot
of a tragedy. But the term is also used to refer to a protagonist's shift
from bad fortune to good in a comedy.
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
I expected this to link with peripatetic, but though both start with the Greek peri: around, about - peripatetic follows on from pateo: walk, whereas the "pet" in peripeteia comes, as you say, from pipto: to fall. To walk around and to fall around. Thanks for peripeteia; a good one to know.
dxb
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 315
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 315 |
In Italian "peripatetica" is used for prostitute, working in the streets, and walking and walking around while waiting for clients.
Very sad indeed. They are often used and forced.
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