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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
here's another of those mystery words..
epicaricacy can be found in Mrs. Byrne's dictionary, defined as 'taking pleasure in others' misfortune'--an actual English synonym for schadenfreude?! but I haven't found it anywhere else (except for those online lists that parrot Mrs. B.), or been able to discover anything about its etymology.
a connection to epicarican (An isopod crustacean, parasitic on shrimps -Webster's 1913) seems tenuous.
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624 |
Here's an immediate use for it:
"The traffic on the M6 moved past the accident scene at an epicaricatic crawl, despite the vehicles involved having been moved to the hard shoulder by several sweating and cursing policemen ... "
From this morning's trip to work! Like it, it will become part of my normal vocabulary forthwith!
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
epicaricatic crawl
We must wonder--with astonishment--at the soul of one for whom this crawl brought pleasure.
Epicaricactic seems another possible spelling for the adjective form.
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
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>this crawl brought pleasure
the mystery is always that the *accident brings so much pleasure as to reduce flow to a crawl.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
The crawl can be explained without invoking pleasure at all.
Once it gets started it is self perpetuating. You can't go through faster than the cars ahead of you. The accident scene is generally accompanied by the flashing lights of a police or sheriff's car, enough in itself to cause the majority of drivers to slow down. Then all it takes is people exercising extra caution in an area liable to have restricted traffic flow anyway. And even if there is epicaricacy in evidence, it need only be by an extremely small minority to affect everybody's speed.
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
epicar = from old Persian: neck icacy = from middle Greek via French: having the quality of rubber
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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
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>The crawl can be explained without invoking pleasure at all.
on the other side of the divided highway?!
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
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the other side of the divided highway
Even then we needn't equate curiosity with pleasure.
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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
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>Even then we needn't equate curiosity with pleasure.
nor are we necessarily constrained from doing so.
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Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 180
member
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member
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 180 |
"Once it gets started it is self perpetuating. You can't go through faster than the cars ahead of you. The accident scene is generally accompanied by the flashing lights of a police or sheriff's car, enough in itself to cause the majority of drivers to slow down. Then all it takes is people exercising extra caution in an area liable to have restricted traffic flow anyway. And even if there is epicaricacy in evidence, it need only be by an extremely small minority to affect everybody's speed."
Quite. The Traffic Check Wallahs on my local radio station frequently make judgmental remarks about "onlooker delays" causing significant slowing of traffic. Apparently we are supposed to forge ahead, with callous disregard for the car in front of us that has just come to a halt, possibly because the driver didn't want to hit police officers or emergency medical personnel.
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