On 4/5/07, Andrew Fildes <afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> There are some words so special that they comfort you in your
> declining years. One such is 'defenestration' which means the act of
> throwing something out of a window. That such a specialised word
> could exist is wonderful and I try not to miss any opportunity to use
> it, to roll it off the tongue. My OED does not offer a verb
> 'defenestrate' in either an active or passive sense but it seems a
> reasonable step and I have been defenestrated in my youth. It hardly
> hurt at all.
> (From 'fenestra' L. window)
> Andrew Fildes
> afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
It was probably a more polite word for a quaint Victorian novel as an
action involving a chamber pot than Falstaff's "Empty the jordan."
Joel W.
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