Thursday, October 09, 2014

word of the day: Procrustean

The word of the day is Procrustean:

in figurative sense, "violently making conformable to standard," from Procrustes, mythical robber of Attica who seized travelers, tied them to his bed, and either stretched their limbs or lopped of their legs to make them fit it. The name is Greek Prokroustes "one who stretches," from prokrouein "to beat out, stretch out" (dictionary.com)


"Unlike so many grammarians who have made their specialty abhorrent to us, words are more Protean than Procrustean.  Supple, flirtatious, acrobatic, they change form to play with one another in myriad combinations, manifold meanings...

"Procrustean grammatical etiquette admonishes us not to end sentences with prepositions.  Certain verbs, however, travel around with prepositions familiarly attached to them - cuddle up, finish off, shut up, shut off, chime in, make out, turn on, come to - and protect their familiars' right to be there.

"There wasn't a single item in my closet that I could don with impunity, nor was there a shoe fit to boogie in."

 - Karen Elizabeth Gordon, The Deluxe Transitive Vampire: The Ultimate Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed

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