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stranger
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stranger
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I distinctly remember this word being used by the Wizard of OZ directed towards the Tin Man when the group of 4 querants confronted him the first time in his great hall. I am wondering why the writers of the movie would have given this vocabulary to the wizard's dialogue when the Tin Man was shiny and rust proof in the hall of the Wizard. The word as defined in the AWAD email of 06/26/2005 is "Dark, gloomy, obscure, misty." Perhaps they did not know the meaning of the word since they didn't subscribe to Anu's mailing list. Perhaps the writers simply wanted to give the wizard a pompous and overbearing attitude. I would think that the Wizard's barb about "cantankerous" would be more apt a desciption of the Tin Man's noisy movements but caliginous seems fairly off the mark. Feed back would be appreciated.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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welcome, ralph!
my guess is that they were just looking for something else alliterative?
OZ'S VOICE
You dare to come to me for a heart, do you?
You clinking, clanking, clattering
collection of caliginous....
regardless of the actual meaning, it sounded good!
formerly known as etaoin...
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veteran
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looking for something else alliterative?
Your alliteration argument is compelling, etaoin, but the word "caliginous" can be defended on its own merits when considered in conjunction with the noun which it modifies, namely, "junk" -- which is missing from your quotation.
"Junk" consists of discarded and unused, possibly obsolete, parts and materials, and people typically hide such collections away from view, for instance, in dusty attics or unsightly junkyards.
Junkyards and dusty attics are usually considered "dark, gloomy, obscure" places.
It is no coincidence that "haunted house" amusements have the same abandoned, distressed, creaky, cobwebbed look of a caliginous attic filled with 'junk'.
OZ'S VOICE
"You clinking, clanking, clattering collection of caliginous......junk!"
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I too think that caliginous is a reach (at best) in this context. Foggy London-town is caliginous; an underground cavern is caliginous; looking back, the Middle Ages are caliginous.
edit: we might be hard-pressed to come up with a better c-word to fill the bill, but.
catachrestic would have at least been self-referentially humorous. or how about chalcenterous?! :)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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The Latin root means "darkness."
PS: We are out the door and off to camp, where bats fly in the darkness. I will ask them if they consider themselves caliginous.
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veteran
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how about chalcenterous?
Or, since the Tin Man is hanging together all arms and legs and head and torso with shiny metal parts, how about ...
"You clinking, clanking, clattering collection of concatenating ...... junk!"
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I like concatenating, but it doesn't quite fit because it's a Christmas word...
No-el
formerly known as etaoin...
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No-el
Very clever, etaoin.
But there is "No-el" in the "c" word which precedes it, "collection", so the "cl" pattern is already broken, beginning a "co" pattern congenial to "concatenating".
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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collection doesn't have an L?
formerly known as etaoin...
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collection doesn't have an L?
Not following "c" as in "clinking, clanking, clattering" which produces the onomatopoeia. The new lead sound in the string is "co" as in "concatenation".
The "cl" sound is accentuated percussively by the "k" sound in the first two words and the double "t" in the 3rd. "Coll" does nothing to extend that percussion.
We may be arguing about trifles here. It's all a matter of personal acoustics.
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