Tuesday, May 24, 2016

I "Learned" an Old Word Today

Defenestration. I've certainly seen it, but never used it. I thought it might be castration but:
noun
1. formal humorous
the action of throwing someone or something out of a window.
"death by defenestration has a venerable history"

2. informal
the action of dismissing someone from a position of power or authority.
"that victory resulted in Churchill's own defenestration by the war-weary British electorate"
I ran into this over at Free North Carolina when I went off to investigate a spike in hits. I found this post, but also The Defenestration of Prague coming to our shores? accompanied by this piece of art:

The Defenestration of Prague, 1618 by Václav BROŽÍK.
Don't mess with Czechs. On 23 May 1618 in Prague began the 30 Years War when Czech protestants tossed three Habsburg governors out a window -- the Defenestration of Prague. It was NOT a first story window, and this was not the first time the Czechs had removed offensive officials by defenestration. They killed seven city council members that way in 1419.
There are an awful lot of second story windows in Washington D.C.

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