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Saturday, January 31, 2009
Today’s Word
tricoteuse
? noun (pl. pronounced same)
one of a number of women who sat and knitted while attending public executions during the French Revolution. origin French, from tricoter ?to knit?.
That’s very disconcerting that there’s a specific word for that.
January 31st, 2009 at 10:27 am
I’ve always thought it disconcerting that so many people were defenestrated to need a word for it.
Next, someone will come up with a word that means “jammed a phillips head screwdriver into his left eye”. There will be a slightly different word when the victim is female.
January 31st, 2009 at 12:48 pm
What? Every good Western and many other action movies show men (often multiple men) being defenstrated!
January 31st, 2009 at 2:41 pm
And without that word, Nathan, we wouldn’t have “The Defenestration Of Prague.” “The Window-Chucking Of Prague” really doesn’t have the same ring to it, now does it.
If you find the word “defenestration” disconcerting, Nathan, you may not want to click on that link: the Wikipedia entry is actually for the plural, and is careful to make the distinction that not every window-chucking in Prague has been referred to as a “Defenestration Of Prague,” just the two particular ones. Which leads to a lovely mental image of a sign on the outskirts of Prague that would read, “XX DAYS SINCE A DEFENESTRATION.” That would be awesome.