"anoint"; "sublime"

[Rick Barr]

WRT the use of "anoint" in the quotation that started this thread, I would
feel comfortable extrapolating a figurative sense from the original
definition of "anoint," that is, "to rub over with oil or an oily substance"
(MWU3). In this case, it would translate into something like "give
(something) an appearance of (something else)," "give a veneer of
(something) to (something else)," etc. Thus, applied to the quote itself, "we
might [...] end [by] [giving to] our own perplexity [the
character/appearance/veneer of] [...] war's sublime effects."

The figurative "anoint" might come from the perceived need to avoid
repeating "appear" or "appearance." Now what "sublime" amounts to here
exactly remains an open question. Context would probably be necessary to get
a better grasp of that one.

-- Rick


On Sun, Jul 25, 2010 at 11:58 AM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "anoint"; "sublime"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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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