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Posted By: Father Steve Obliviate - 04/27/04 12:36 AM
My sweet bride, neologist that she is, attempted to slide a word by me last week: "obliviate" She insists that, although it may not be contained in any dictionary, it makes perfect sense and I knew what she meant when she used it. Help!

Posted By: belMarduk Re: Obliviate - 04/27/04 12:39 AM
So in what sentence did she use it Father Steve?

Posted By: inselpeter Re: Obliviate - 04/27/04 12:50 AM
It *does appear in the Harry Potter Lexicon, and so, all over a galaxy of young sites.

http://www.hp-lexicon.org/magic/spells_o.html

Posted By: Father Steve Re: Obliviate - 04/27/04 01:46 AM
So in what sentence did she use it Father Steve?

As we were driving by a site which purported to be a camp used in the early 1800's by First Nations people, there was no indication that anyone had ever lived there. My sweet bride said something like "The successor culture has a way of obliviating the evidence that a prior culture lived upon the land."



Posted By: Father Steve Re: Obliviate - 04/27/04 01:47 AM
It *does appear in the Harry Potter Lexicon ...

I gotta pay more attention to what that spouse is reading.

Posted By: musick Re: Obliviate - 04/27/04 01:54 AM
The successor culture has a way of obliviating the evidence that a prior culture lived upon the land.

Combining "obliterate" and "oblivious"!?

Posted By: tsuwm Re: Obliviate - 04/27/04 02:51 AM
tis an old word, formerly used in a rather different context:

Now rare.

[< classical Latin oblvium OBLIVIUM n. or oblvin-, oblvi OBLIVION n. + -ATE3. Cf. earlier OBLIVIONIZE v. and slightly earlier OBLIVION v.]

trans. To forget, commit to oblivion.



(I think that musick has it right.)
Posted By: Faldage Re: Obliviate - 04/27/04 10:52 AM
OED cites it from 1661 and 1835-40 (with tsuwm's definition), so I guess it was about due to be used again. Nice to see that it's still alive.

Posted By: dxb Re: Obliviate - 04/28/04 10:44 AM
Nice to see that it's still alive

There must be a mating pair somewhere!

Posted By: RhubarbCommando Re: Obliviate - 04/28/04 10:48 AM
Sure is - musick pointed them out, above.

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