travesty

[Jonathan Lighter]

> 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

And the beat goes on....

JL

On Tue, Jan 15, 2013 at 1:44 PM, David A. Daniel <dad at pokerwiz.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "David A. Daniel" <dad at POKERWIZ.COM>
> Subject:      Re: travesty
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---
>
> 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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