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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 200
enthusiast
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OP
enthusiast
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Posts: 200 |
Elsewhere, dr. bill used the term "procrustean bed". His usage seemed inaccurate to me, and upon looking it up I discovered that my own usage was also somewhat inaccurate.
But more interestingly, the various dictionaries I checked differ from each other -- and even a single dictionary may be inconsistent between "procrustean" and "procrustean bed". In fact, bartleby.com differs from my recent bricks-and-mortar AHD. The differences are nuances, but ones that strike me as important nuances.
Which leads me to the question: how do our board participants understand these terms (without looking them up, which would of course prejudice the responses).
(Note: I'm not asking for the etymology. Current meaning may not track etymology, and I suspect the etymology is familiar to anyone who uses the terms themselves.)
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
A procrustean is a person who eats the entire slice, including the browned, chewier parts around the outside. A procrustean bed is the sleeping pad of a person who eats the slice, usually toasted, before arising in the morning, often leaving procrumbean bits behind.
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 872
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 872 |
often leaving procrumbean bits behind. - the good Father Steve.
Ah, a good Father who returns from his honeymoon no wiser but still with his humor intact. Ah, a rare but suspectable bird indeed. () (used with permission).
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Somebody did a hell of a lot of stretching to get Elvis the Pelvis onto the list.
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819 |
A procrustean is a person who eats the entire slice, including the browned, chewier parts around the outside.Nah, that's a concrustian. Procrustian, in modern parlance, deals with marketing. Everybody's gotta fit the same pattern, and/or be sold the same package deal, and they've cut off our heads to make it work. 
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
There are, of course, those who insist on only the very best, which persons might be described as uppercrustean.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
And many children will eat no crusts at all. They are centrists.
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819 |
There are, of course, those who insist on only the very best, which persons might be described as
uppercrustean.
And when those same patricians eat lobster they're uppercrustacean.
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
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Silly Geoff. Everyone who knows anything about world geography knows that Upper Crustacea is a small province of Greece, up the Struma River, north of the Aegean Sea, known for its many deposits of limestone, left when it was part of the bottom of the sea.
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289 |
Bill, my granddaughter doesn't eat the crusts of bread, either -- she eats only the crumb, as she will tell you. I don't really know where a 3 yr. old learned this archaic but correct word, but I can guess.
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