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A.Word.A.Day--defenestration defenestration (de-fen-uh-STRAY-shuhn) noun A throwing of a person or thing out of a window. [De- (out) + Latin fenestra (window).] "The defenestration of Moscow: Idaho will not dignify with an answer--that is, file a response to--a $940,000 claim by a young San Jose man and his parents. The former student at the University of Idaho in Moscow, who was hurt when he `mooned' other students and fell out a window, argued in a lawsuit that the university was negligent for, among other failings, not warning students of the risks associated with upper-story dorm windows. Surely there's something in the student handbook about gravity and open windows, next to the warning about blow-dryers in the bathtub." Patt Morrison; California Dateline: Snapshots of Life in the Golden State; Los Angeles Times; Sep 2, 1994. This week's theme: words with origins in war. X-Bonus It is not only for what we do that we are held responsible, but also for what we do not do. -Moliere

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