travesty

[David A. Daniel]

Just as a matter of interest, travesti (spelled with an i on the end, I
suppose because Portuguese didn't have a y until recently) means a female
impersonator in Brazilian Portuguese. In English I have always and only used
travesty with the dictionary meaning. Or am I missing something?
DAD

Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
Subject:      Re: travesty
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On Jan 15, 2013, at 9:32 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
wrote:

> I mentioned this in 2010. It means "an outrageous occurrence or
situation."
> Like a tragedy but different.
>
> CNN characterizes the plight of Syrian refugees forced over the border
into
> Turkey as simply "a travesty."

I wouldn't have known the dictionary meaning if I hadn't seen this e-mail
and looked it up. No idea it was supposed to be different from a tragedy. (I
wouldn't want to try to use it with the dictionary meaning, either....)

Benjamin Barrett
Seattle, WA

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