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> The Founding Father once infamously electrocuted himself while trying to kill a turkey with electricity. I'm pretty sure you only get to "electrocute" yourse
by gadgetoid 7y ago
> The Founding Father once infamously electrocuted himself while trying to kill a turkey with electricity.
I'm pretty sure you only get to "electrocute" yourself once. Especially in 1743.
I wonder- his lack of grounding may just be what saved his life. If the mentioned chain connected to the outsides of both jars were grounded then there might have been a short across his heart.
- JoeAltmaier 7y agoElectrocute may also mean to injure, not just to kill... The chain was probably the cell ground? Unless the Leyden jar had a different ground wire, which seems improbable. Likely he got it straight across the chest.
- bityard 7y ago"Electrocute" is a portmanteau of "electricity" and "execute".
- machello13 7y agoSure, but in practice it's used to mean just being electrically shocked. Words aren't tied to the meaning implied by their etymology.
- revax 7y agoIn French we have two words, "électrisation" for non-lethal shock and "électrocution" for when death occurs.
- ad404b8a372f2b9 7y agoMost people I know still use "éléctrocuté" to describe what happens to them when they get shocked from an electrical outlet.
- OJFord 7y agoI do not find that to be the case in practice, I occasionally here it used like that, but consider it misuse. I suspect a dictionary might accept it as an 'informal' alternative to the main 'death by' definition.
- joshuacc 7y agoNo need to speculate on what a dictionary might say. We can actually consult one. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/electrocute https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/electrocute
- OJFord 7y agoThank you - it did feel a little silly to type, but I didn't care to search online, nor to get up. Laziness subsided, my Collins (complete, 2016) - which is a rather accepting dictionary of new-fangled words or usages - has only two definitions, both involving death. (1. to kill as a result of electric shock; 2. (US) to execute in an electric chair).
- r00fus 7y agoTIL. What other commonly understood words are portmanteaus?
- OJFord 7y agoTaxicab (taximeter/cabriolet), brunch (breakfast/lunch), spork (spoon/fork), Eurasia (Europe/Asia), Brexit (Britain/exit).
- georgebaily 7y agoPortmanteau
- kbutler 7y agoYou'll see them all over now. chortle (chuckle/snort) podcast (ipod/broadcast) newscast (news/broadcast) sportscaster (sports/broadcaster) motel (motor/hotel) email (electronic/mail) blog (web/log) bit (binary/digit) chunnel (channel/tunnel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_portmanteaus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_portmanteaus
- hnick 7y agoSmog is a big one most people don't think about (smoke/fog).
- emmp 7y agoThe etymology of a word is a useful signal but it should not be mistaken to be the definition in actual usage by speakers.
- aeternum 7y agoIf we're going purely by etymology, what does a suitcase have to do with electricity?
- creeble 7y agoTo be electrocuted has always meant death, until relatively recently. Because Englishe talking is good not, it now can mean what formerly meant "shocked". I still prefer the specificity of death for electrocuted. Keith Relf was electrocuted, if you can still talk about it, you received an electric shock. Edit: spelling. Make Englyish great again!
- stevula 7y agoSemantic drift is inevitable and has little to do with dumbness. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_change https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_change
- TheGallopedHigh 7y agoExactly. French was once considered a bastardisation of Latin
- Jamwinner 7y agoI have been electrocuted many times. It is generally not fatal. Not sure how the year changes anything. A lack of grounding would preclude the conduction of electricity. As this is HV, a small spark gap would not have helped remarkably.
- thfuran 7y agoElectrocution is literally a fatal electric shock.
- logfromblammo 7y agoPortmanteau of electric execution. Strangely enough, not used by Edison in the Current War against Tesla/Westinghouse. He made up words with mort that everyone has since forgotten. For nonlethal electrical mishap, just "shock" is fine, and "electric shock" to disambiguate when there may be confusion with emotional shock from excessive surprise or physiological shock from a traumatic injury.
- ohyes 7y agoWell, if you want to be meaninglessly pedantic about it. But in common use it just means to receive an injurious electric shock, nowadays.