|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094
old hand
|
OP
old hand
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094 |
I'm reading The Time Machine over at bartleby.com and in the third chapter, first paragraph is the sentence "I suppose a suicide who holds a pistol to his skull feels much the same wonder at what will come next as I felt then." This sentence says to me that a suicide is a person, not an action. Is the word used incorrectly here or has the meaning slightly changed.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear JazzO: My dictionary gives as third definition " A person who commits suicide."
From Gilbert and Sullivan:
On a tree by a river a little tom-tit
Sang "Willow, titwillow, titwillow!"
And I said to him, "Dicky-bird, why do you sit
Singing 'Willow, titwillow, titwillow'?"
"Is it weakness of intellect, birdie?" I cried,
"Or a rather tough worm in your little inside?"
With a shake of his poor little head, he replied,
"Oh, willow, titwillow, titwillow!"
He slapped at his chest, as he sat on that bough,
Singing "Willow, titwillow, titwillow!"
And a cold perspiration bespangled his brow,
Oh, willow, titwillow, titwillow!
He sobbed and he sighed, and a gurgle he gave,
Then he plunged himself into the billowy wave,
And an echo arose from the suicide's grave--
"Oh, willow, titwillow, titwillow!"
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 477
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 477 |
that a suicide is a person, not an action
It's both, JazzO. This from the M-W Collegiate Dictionary:
Main Entry: 1 sui.cide
Pronunciation: 'sü-&-"sId
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin sui (general) of oneself + English -cide; akin to Old English & Old High German sIn his, Latin suus one's own, sed, se without, Sanskrit sva oneself, one's own
Date: 1643
1 a : the act or an instance of taking one's own life voluntarily and intentionally especially by a person of years of discretion and of sound mind b : ruin of one's own interests
2 : one that commits or attempts suicide
This only discusses the noun form of the word, there's also the verb. Funnily enough the other references to suicide in that dictionary are all to do with sport ... "suicide squad" for what you USns call 'football' (which I'm sure would also have war slang type usage) and "suicide squeeze" from baseball. 
Hev
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526 |
I've seen patricide employed as a noun as well and just assumed it was an archaic usage. Didn't occur to me that they might be contemporary until I noticed the definition of verbicide.
k
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
Funnily enough the other references to suicide in that dictionary are all to do with sport What? No suicide blonde? I wondered at the phrase, used in an INXS song*, until I saw the phrase, with punchline, in a movie made in about 1930. * Suicide Blonde
Suicide blonde was the colour of her hair
Like a cheap distraction
For a new affair... http://www.lyricsdomain.com/lyrics/11964/
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
Now I feel just as sure as I'm sure that my name
Isn't Willow, titwillow, titwillow,
That 'twas blighted affection that made him exclaim
"Oh, willow, titwillow, titwillow!"
And if you remain callous and obdurate, I
Shall perish as he did, and you will know why,
Though I probably shall not exclaim as I die,
"Oh, willow, titwillow, titwillow!"
It's an affecting tale, and quite true. I knew the bird intimately. His devotion was something extraordinary.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 688
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 688 |
Résumé
Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smell awful;
You might as well live.
Dorothy Parker
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
German proverb on suicide: Why do it today, you can always do it tomorrow.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526 |
One of my favorite poems is about suicide.
I don't know remember who wrote it or where
I heard it. I've tried to find it on the
web, but no luck. It goes something like
To the Student Humorist, a Suicide at 30
We celebrate your ribald memory
oh dour-face youth who carved the mourner's bench
with knife of wit for weary eyes to see,
your agile turn of phrase designed to wrench
chuckles from teachers, chortles from the crowd,
your friends, your enemies in boredom's chains
eager to break their bondage, laugh aloud.
I now recall your grin, reward for pains to lift the load,
to turn the fun side out, to poke the rib of joy , evoke a shout,
prick vanity's balloon, shoot greed's kite down.
Your pungent wit we savored for a while,
and even now, remembering, we smile.
k
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
She made a M*A*S*H out of that!
TEd
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,670
Members9,187
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
149
guests, and
43
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
