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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
Well, maybe you're right. I was very knew in Ger'y when I heard him say that. It was the only thing I understood--and I may not even have understood *that* much.
In future, I will keep my romings to my own affairs. Adieu! IP
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409 |
Thanks, tsuwm for filling in the background on decimate. I was quite confident that the usage my Chambers calls "loose" was established by the 19th C., and it's nice to know that I was not far off. My view on decimate was that it was a word with a specific, technically correct word usurped for broader use, much the way that the specific, technical definition of epidemic appears to be under threat from a broader use. I shall, however, revel in using "epizootic" just to show off.
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 76
journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 76 |
So complicated! I dare not think about why the difference between "blinkers" and "blinders."
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
What do you mean Blanche? Aren`t they two different things?
Here, blinkers are those lights on the backs of cars that blink on and off to tell which side you are turning. It can also be used to describe any light that blinks on and off (like Christmas lights). Blinders are those things you put on a horse's face so that he can only see in front of him; not side to side.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
My dictionary gives "blinders" as synonym for "blinkers" meaning small squares of leather attached to bridle that block the horse's vision of things on either side, to keep it from being disturbed by them;.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
We should not take lightly the corruption of "decimate"
Decimation was originally a punishment meted out to mutinous legions in the Roman army. Everyone was lined up and they counted off by tens. Then every number (e.g.) three was taken out and shot. Well, OK, they didn't shoot them but the effect was the same, they came out of the experience dead. But, Note! Everyone else was scattered about amongst other legions, so the legion that was decimated had no one left in it. Generalizing the definition of decimation to include other effects than just a simple reduction in number by 1/10th seems to me a minor thing to quibble about.
Better we should save our energies for whinging about such travesties as referring to naprons as aprons or requiring that money change hands for the word sell to be used
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
Re: they came out of the experience dead.
Did they come out as Debutants? or did they come out of the closet?( -- maybe they didn't have the don't ask/don't tell policy) Just how did they come out?
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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 spreader of sheep effluvia: they came out of the experience dead.
La hija de Dios: Did they come out as Debutants? or did they come out of the closet?( -- maybe they didn't have the don't ask/don't tell policy) Just how did they come out?
The spreader of sheep effluvia: Whether or not they had the policy, they were in no condition to tell. You could ask them till you're blue in the face.
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
or till they were blue-- I am not sure of the "color" progression after death-- (depending on position, etc..) --but this thread has discussed autopsies-- and we do have Dr. Bill, who might have some memory-- (an article in last week's New Yorker pointed out autopies are becoming uncommon in most US hospitals).
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 144
member
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member
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 144 |
Interesting - I'd never heard of blinders being synonymous with blinkers. I've always used blinkers for the bits of leather on a horse's bridle. For me, a blinder is a word used to describe something that is absolutely fantastic - eg, a blinder of an idea. This can also be sometimes contracted, as in: 'Henry came up with an absolute blinder'.
As to the epidemic/epizootic, I think we're still in denial - I just keep hearing it referred to as a 'crisis'.
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