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Joined: Sep 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Well, did anyone else look it up? I did--on Onelook.com. And there was only one reference cited: The All Powerful Tsuwm's! (I had to capitalize tsuwm here because he deserved capitalization given the fact that out of over 700 dictionaries, his was the only one--and so I quote:
"tetrapyloctomy
"The art of splitting a hair four ways" according to Umberto Eco in Foucault's Pendulum "
Bravo, bravo, bravo!
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I most certainly did, Dubdub--via Atomica, and got the same (and only) result you did! He's really something, isn't he?
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Joined: Sep 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I kinda guessed you had, Jackie, given your response a few posts back above.
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Mercy yes, I wouldn't have known that word on my own! I wonder if there are tri- and di-pyloctomies? Ooh--pentapyloctomy! Now there is a fun word to say! Yow--what was that, a sonic boom? Oh--no, it was tsuwm, smacking his hand to his forehead.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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it's a subject, like Mechanical Avunculogratulation or Pylocatabasis. They all fall under the heading of Tetrapyloctomy.' 'What's tetra...?' 'The art of splitting a hair four ways. Mechanical Avunculogratulation, for example, is how to build machines for greeting uncles.' (74)
introduction
The above quotation seems an apt microcosm of Foucault's Pendulum: at once amusing, bewildering, ironic, exceedingly intellectual, and eminently unlikable. Umberto Eco's novel, only released in an English hardcover late last year, is a second expedition into the novel form by the Italian scholar and acclaimed author of The Name of the Rose
I tried teading it, and two pages was enough for me. Seems quite a few years ago, when I was living in Oakton, VA. That would be about ten years ago.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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It was also a hogwash word at one point, but that round was cancelled because too many people used the right answer as their definition. That certainly caused it to stick in my mind.
Bingley
Bingley
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Hey, you know what we all ought to do? Go to our haircut people and say we want a tetrapyloctomy. Then we could report reactions back here!
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
Ooh--pentapyloctomy! Now there is a fun word to say!
As in my post, above: complete with an implicit definition
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833 |
Sorry, MG!
No worries mate! The search engine on here just ain't the powerfullest. I had called mine "Mrs Malaprop" (I think!) so I don't know why it didn't show....
Anyway, 'tis a good subject, and great minds think alike (as so many of the previous posts prove, too!)....
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Carpal Tunnel
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I didn't realize it was so obvious that Rhuby's post had slipped my mind completely!
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