defenestrate & avuncular
I couldn't decide between these words today so I decided to do both, despite my fears that continuing to do paired-word posts on the weekends might in some way encourage me to slip to four words during the week again. I've decided that I have the will power to avoid this. In any case, today's words don't have much in common except for the fact that I find it strange that they exist - they're the kind of word that makes me appreciate the English language.
To defenestrate is to throw out of a window, as most of us know. The fact, however, that the act of throwing something or someone out of a window occurs often enough that we have developed such a serious-sounding word to refer to it, is perhaps why so many of us find it funny. I know of no window intended for projectiles; with the exception of drive-through windows at fast food establishments, through which items are only very seldom thrown, the window's purpose, as I see it, is the entrance of light and the accessibility of an outside view. One exception, I suppose, is the thin vertical window found in medieval castles and other strongholds, which was designed largely with the arrow in mind, both exiting and entering, though only the former is technically defenestrated.
"Avuncular," meanwhile, describes something or someone as being of or like an uncle. "Avuncular advice," for instance, denotes advice that either comes from one's uncle or is the type one would expect from an uncle. I can see the use of the word when it refers to something "of" an uncle; in the interest of brevity it is simply a handy word. But to describe something or someone as avuncular seems to me to say very little - is not the uncle a familial figure noted for variance? "Avuncular" seems to me to be a word that does not very finely categorize the content of any message or person. The word properly used probably fits well with some archetypal uncle, I suppose: some vague figure whose affection and responsibility, both "sub-father" to some degree, tempers his wisdom with the benefit of an outside perspective without any large investment in the outcome or emotional involvement that may cloud the judgement.
To defenestrate is to throw out of a window, as most of us know. The fact, however, that the act of throwing something or someone out of a window occurs often enough that we have developed such a serious-sounding word to refer to it, is perhaps why so many of us find it funny. I know of no window intended for projectiles; with the exception of drive-through windows at fast food establishments, through which items are only very seldom thrown, the window's purpose, as I see it, is the entrance of light and the accessibility of an outside view. One exception, I suppose, is the thin vertical window found in medieval castles and other strongholds, which was designed largely with the arrow in mind, both exiting and entering, though only the former is technically defenestrated.
"Avuncular," meanwhile, describes something or someone as being of or like an uncle. "Avuncular advice," for instance, denotes advice that either comes from one's uncle or is the type one would expect from an uncle. I can see the use of the word when it refers to something "of" an uncle; in the interest of brevity it is simply a handy word. But to describe something or someone as avuncular seems to me to say very little - is not the uncle a familial figure noted for variance? "Avuncular" seems to me to be a word that does not very finely categorize the content of any message or person. The word properly used probably fits well with some archetypal uncle, I suppose: some vague figure whose affection and responsibility, both "sub-father" to some degree, tempers his wisdom with the benefit of an outside perspective without any large investment in the outcome or emotional involvement that may cloud the judgement.
posted at 10:25 PM by Mother Night's Most Loyal Son
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home