"anoint"; "sublime"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Did I say "misuse"?  I said "new."

Issued by a prestigious Ivy League press, the book cries "assiduousness"
from every page. It proves (at least to my satisfaction, ) that "war time"
(time for war) must be carefully distinguished from "wartime" (a period
during war, the antithesis of "peacetime"), as well as from "war time" (the
sense of duration one experiences when a war is being waged somewhere).
(This seems to pass much more slowly for persons who ruminate about the war
than for those who give it no thought.)

The posited "peacetime" and "wartime," however, are shown to be very weakly
defined categories: in texture, a moment of "wartime" on the field of
Waterloo   was (or can be conceived as having been) radically unlike the
very same moment of so-called "wartime" at Coleridge's house. Moreover, the
author proves that the Romantics and their predecessors could not have
communicated fully a Godlike, omniscient comprehension and personal
experience of the wars of the period even if they'd had one.

Our ability to fathom events in Iraq and Afghanistan is no better. And the
devilish distinction between "war time" and "wartime" still haunts us.

I would not toss this book aside lightly.

JL


On Sun, Jul 25, 2010 at 11:14 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: "anoint"; "sublime"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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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"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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