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For some reason "defenestration" sounds like disemboweling to me, but every time I mention this to german speakers they also point out that "fenster" means "win
by dekhn 3y ago
For some reason "defenestration" sounds like disemboweling to me, but every time I mention this to german speakers they also point out that "fenster" means "window"
- gmueckl 3y agoI think the common root here is the Latin word "fenestra". There is also the French word "fenêtre".
- wk_end 3y agoThere's something intrinsically funny about that word. I think part of it is that it sounds like of like "masturbation", and part of it is that it's so unusually specific - why do we need a word for throwing someone out a window?
- dekhn 3y agoExactly!
- tmoravec 3y ago> why do we need a word for throwing someone out a window? Well, "defenestration" is a sort of inflexion of a common word (in Latin or German, which was a common language in Prague in 1618). Wikipedia has quite a few examples, so having a specific word might be useful in the end: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestration
- 2devnull 3y agoI think the answer about why it’s so specific is if you just say you threw someone out of a window people might assume it was only one story high and not lethal. Defenestration tells you that it was a high window, and often implies the ejection of the owner or a legitimate occupant. Similar to shock vs electrocution.
- jaza 3y agoEven if (this is a challenge for the average English speaker like myself) you maintain in your conscious mind "fenestra = window", I think it's still so funny, because it sounds like you're removing the window from the person (a la decapitation).