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

Sully's not an ideal solution, as it deals primarily with reputations, in which case besmirch, denigrate, etc would all count too. However, detriment can be used as a verb...

*ponders detriment as a verb - decides not to confront Mycroft directly*

Well so can 'dogear' but I wouldn't use it that way, fearing detriment of/to my literary cred. But I'd really love to see a sample!
~jwf~

PS: Sully is used here (NorthAm) to describe the physical disarrangement of an ordered and orderly situation. Making love on a freshly made bed, taking the bottom apple from a display or the first pickle and sandwich from a tray, leaving fag ends in the dip or fast-food containers in the back of a new car, that sort of messing up.

PPS:
In fact, I dare to suggest that 'sullied' may be a variant of 'soiled'.
~j~

Sullied and soiled are from Old French souiller and soil meaning ground is from Latin solum.

Alji

Detriment as a verb; to do injury to; to hurt. [Archaic]

Alji

Sullied would seem to be aperfectly good word to use to me!

You can Sully someone's reputation...

But you can also sully someone's e.g. Desk with e.g. unwanted Mail...

Aljiis, never trust a dictionary

Detriment as a verb is alive and well, and is oft used in legal texts to mean precisely what TC wants it to, e.g. "If the standard intends to have public impacts and to justify those impacts to those whom it detriments, it must provide some opportunity to those thus detrimented to display and/or apply their deserts". The medical and military worlds have also not been slow to pick up on the word's euphemistic value, which is why it's not hard to find references to a patient's condition or a country's air defenses being detrimented. Last, and by all means least, are astrologers who use the term in reference to planets which are in exactly the wrong position to do whatever it is they're supposed to do.

I like your example but a planet's detriment is the sign of the zodiac which is opposite to that in which it is ruler. Mars as ruler or lord of Aries has its detriment in Libra and Saturn, the ruler of Capricorn has its detriment in Cancer. The moon, ruler or lady of Cancer has its detriment in Capricorn.
So whereas a person with Mars in Aries is more likely to be involved with the military, the police or somesuch activity, the person with Mars in Libra will be less inclined to such activities but may be haughty and boastful.

As for the law, it has always been archaic.

Alji

Ta daaaaa!

I made it back! And my, you have been busy. I've got 341 posts to catch up on, and I intend to read them all.

What's the flexibility of dement? If people are demented, do they have dementing factors? Or dementers? Would they be guilty of dementment?

Found demented, dementing, dements and dementate (To deprive of reason; to dement). Would it be dementer or dementor I wonder?

Alji

It would be dementor. A dementer is a person who unmixes things, ment being the past participle of the verb meng, which is related to mingle, monger and among.

And MONGREL!


How - ooooo!

My two-year-old daughter made one of those fantastic leaps of logic that children are so good at.
When I went out to get a hammer to put a clock up, she asked me what it was. I said: "a hammer" and she asked "what are we going to ham?"
Sensible: a cooker cooks, a blogger blogs and a watcher watches... So what does a hammer do?

My stepmum once told her son to behave, and he said...

I'm being have!

Hammer, dagger, stutter ...

Welcome back, Kaeori!

Yeah, it's like Christmas again.

I was surprised to find mingle and mangle are not related. The one meaning to mix and the other, to cut up.

Alji

Ben