English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

[thirdcrank]

I can't see any invention of words there; it's the invention of extreme sentences - in both meanings of the word - using ordinary words intended as extra punishment over and above what was then the norm of capital punishment.

Incidentally, this tends to support my view about looking to old precedents to measure the performance of our leaders today.

[Mick F]

There's a description of being skinned alive in Ken Follett's book, World Without End.
Horrific and very graphically described.

[Oldjohnw]

I can't see any invention of words there; it's the invention of extreme sentences - in both meanings of the word - using ordinary words intended as extra punishment over and above what was then the norm of capital punishment.

Incidentally, this tends to support my view about looking to old precedents to measure the performance of our leaders today.

I really meant some usage of words that might have another more benign meaning.

[Bmblbzzz]

Any road up, the previous post of mine tried to explain the luggage trolleys at Plymouth Station, but today I was able to photograph the sign.

It says, "Not to be Plymouth" under the First Great Western logo.
Then, to the right, it says, "Removed from station".

This infers that First Great Western should not be in Plymouth, and that the luggage trolley has been removed from the station.
Pedantic, I know, but the signwriters - of the cattle grid signs and the luggage trollies - need to get it right.

IMG_0812.jpg

Perhaps this is what happens on the interface of language and (the absence of) design.

[Mike Sales]

I can't see any invention of words there; it's the invention of extreme sentences - in both meanings of the word - using ordinary words intended as extra punishment over and above what was then the norm of capital punishment.

Incidentally, this tends to support my view about looking to old precedents to measure the performance of our leaders today.

I really meant some usage of words that might have another more benign meaning.

I think that "drawing" was in use, and is still used, to mean evisceration in general, usually more benign in that it mostly refers to non-human animals.

[Jdsk]

Re "horse-drawn animals": in the good old days when there was "hanging, drawing, and quartering", I believe the 'drawing' part consisted of the unfortunate victim being dragged along the road tied behind a horse...

I always understood that "drawing" was evisceration, in this case whilst still half alive, and that your innards would be held up before your eyes.

This is unresolved:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanged,_d ... e_sentence

Jonathan

[661-Pete]

This is unresolved:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanged,_d ... e_sentence

I agree - sorry I brought up this topic (a bit of unfortunate 'gallows humour' - literally) . Perhaps time to drop the debate and turn to less drastic means of curbing spelling/grammatical errors....

[Jdsk]

This is unresolved:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanged,_d ... e_sentence

I agree - sorry I brought up this topic (a bit of unfortunate 'gallows humour' - literally). Perhaps time to drop the debate and turn to less drastic means of curbing spelling/grammatical errors....

No need to apologise... I thought that there was a simple answer and that I knew it. Now I know better.

Thankyou.

: - )

Jonathan

[thirdcrank]

I think the point is that judges didn't just say "You'll be hanged, drawn and quartered" but rather thought up ways of making it as cruel as possible then declaimed it in gruesome detail.

I heard some sort of re-enactment on the radio some years ago and a bit that sticks in my mind was "...and you will be hanged by your neck but before you are dead you will be cut down quick and ...."

I suspect this is why the US Constitution bans cruel and unusual punishments

[Jdsk]

I think the point is that judges didn't just say "You'll be hanged, drawn and quartered" but rather thought up ways of making it as cruel as possible then declaimed it in gruesome detail.

"... laid on a hurdle and so drawn to the place of execution, and there to be hanged, cut down alive, your members to be cut off and cast in the fire, your bowels burnt before you, your head smitten off, and your body quartered and divided at the King's will, and God have mercy on your soul."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanged,_d ... _quartered

Jonathan

[Oldjohnw]

Ok, so they didn’t invent words for the specific task. But the English sure thought up some unbelievable cruelty. And we think ISIS is unpleasant.

[Stevek76]

Mis-use of gaslighting to describe someone being disingenuous. And sometimes for any sort of lying at all.

[thirdcrank]

Fun fact. When I first met the future Mrs thirdcrank, her family home in Hertfordshire - now within the M25 - still had gaslighting. (1966)

[mattheus]

Mis-use of gaslighting to describe someone being disingenuous. And sometimes for any sort of lying at all.

I think if you actually want to make a point and be clearly understood, then outside academic (and certain other) circles you should avoid the term altogether. I've never heard it used in real life.

Every time I read it online - and actually care - I have to google the meaning. I do know that it's never used to indicate someone with good intentions and high moral values

[drossall]

I suspect that the misuse just proves that nearly nobody knows what it means. I had to look it up too. Hopefully, I don't know anybody who'd be likely to use the term in real life because I don't know anybody who'd be likely to try it in real life.