heart-wretching

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Mar 6, 2008, at 3:18 PM, Jon Lighter wrote:

> I.e.,  "heart-rendering."

one step beyond the usual:

17. there was, of course, much testimony about dottie, from current
students, colleagues, former students now in their teens and twenties,
some of the singers.  some of it was heart-wrenching; i cried a lot.
   (AMZ to soc.motss 2/2/98)

GUT-RENDING, HEART-WRENCHING/GUT-WRENCHING, HEART-RENDING

Upsetting events can be gut-wrenching (make you sick to the stomach)
or heart-breaking (make you feel terribly sad); but many people
confuse the two and come up with "heart-wrenching." "Gut-rending" is
also occasionally seen.
  http://wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.txt

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