h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I always thought Blinking was just a euphemism for something with stronger negative connotations...

I'm sure I've heard people say things like, it's blinking hot in here for example.

Blinking's like stinking - not as withering as blithering.

Ah sorry, I missed post 78 there.

*is eliminated for repetition*

>>> Blinking's like stinking - not as withering as blithering.

That is awesome, Rudest Elf.

There's none as shrewdest as Rudest...

> How about a Caesarian?
> Sure, you talk about a Caesarian conquest or a Caesarian law
> or a Caesarian victory, but if I just said "a Caesarian" you'd
> know I could only mean a C-section.

Obviously you've never seen a Caesarian scar, jwf, or heard endless discussions of Caesarian delivery or Caesarian birth.

That's all one use though isn't it.

Gee, I sure hope not. Are you trying to tell me that the experience of delivery is the same as the scar?

No, but they all pertain to a cesarean section so it's all same linguistic useage as far as I can tell.

A cesarian train or caesarian email account - now *they* would be different uses.

Thank you Orcus.


Now, who can possibly argue that anything other than
deeds are dastardly?


~jwf~

http://tinyurl.com/32mxxhr

<

Even further thought on this subject has not yet jogged my memory
of the list I used to have. But I have had some new insights.

There are several things (nouns) which are almost always draped
in the same adjectival dressing. It seems that some adjectives get
associated with particular nouns and they stick, almost exclusively.

Take gall for example, it's almost always unmitigated.
Many things can be unmitigated, but there only seems to be
one variation from plain old gall, the unmitigated kind.

Rebuke is usually scathing.
Soldiers are always war-weary.
Countries are war-torn.
Baby boys are bouncing.
Beggars are thread-bare.
Travellers are foot-sore.



~jwf~

And curs are usually mangy.


~jwf~

Somewhere in my library I have a collection of short stories in which the author is making fun of just those sorts of cliche.

Cannot we have a gentle rebuke or even an undeserved rebuke?

Indeed...

Turning again to the adjective as the primary function
I am now considering if only wind can be blustery. Yes,
it can also be applied metaphorically to some human beings
in certain situations, but these are identified by gasps
and puffery and harumphs and assorted outbursts like gusts
of wind.

Another possibility; in a general way, events arising from
a given set of circumstances may become inevitable. Again, not
everyone will agree that all events and outcomes are inevitable
or even that events and outcomes are synonymous. And of course
events and outcomes can also be tragic or comedic or fatal or
preventable or...

This whole line of thinking is doing my head in.



~jwf~