"anoint"; "sublime"

[Joel S. Berson]

OK, Jon, you've given us 5 misuses by Mary A. Favret _War at a
Distance_ (Princeton: P.U.P.).  Isn't it time to throw in the towel?  :-)

Joel

At 7/25/2010 09:47 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>I just don't know what "anoint" means here.  To "crown"?  But how exactly?
>Surely not "to bring to a successful conclusion"? Not in MW in this sense.
>
>2010 Mary A. Favret _War at a Distance_ (Princeton: P.U.P.) 174: And there
>we might just end our brief history of the meaning of war, anointing our own
>perplexity with what appears, even in the etymologies, as war's sublime
>effects.
>
>BTW, the best I can do with "sublime" is "not quite or fully describable;
>ineffable." (The lead-up discusses the word's origin in an etymon meaning
>"confusion; discord; strife").  If that is indeed what is meant (maybe not),
>it would be a new sense.
>
>JL
>
>--
>"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org