There were problems with page 23 of The New York Times Everyday Reader’s Dictionary of Misunderstood, Misused, and Mispronounced Words: Revised Edition. There were some cool words (which I’ll discuss), but I didn’t have enough resources to do a full definition. So we are stuck with: bastinado.
Beating Past Bastinado
The first word I wanted to use was “battologize.” It is “to repeat words or phrases excessively in speech or writing.” I suffer from this. It’s not just that; I also suffer from this. In fact, it gets so bad, that I sometimes suffer from this. But really: it’s easy to fall into that kind of thing. That’s why it’s important to at least read a piece of writing before publishing.
The second word I selected was “bavardage.” It means “foolish or nonsensical talk.” You would have thought that I would have known that word. It’s like the first word I remember learning: facetious. By the time I was four, the most common sentence my mother said to me was, “Don’t be facetious.” One day I asked her what it meant. Here’s the thing: I could tell it wasn’t good. But whenever she said it, I was feeling pretty damned good myself. Not much has changed over the last five decades.
I suppose I could complain about all the bathy- words on this page. But you know how I feel about that. So let’s move on to today’s word: bastinado.
1. a blow or a beating with a stick, especially as applied to the soles of the feet as a method of punishment.
Date: very late 16th century.
Origin: from the Spanish word bastón, which is a stick.
Example: Inflicting the bastinado is not different from (the capital punishment for) serious crimes; if by good fortune (the victims) do not die, they cannot function (again) as men. —Anthony François Paulus Hulsewé
So Trump tends to battologize his bavardage.
That’s good. Easy way to remember what those words mean!
“Beatings in different zones of the body affect different parts of the soul. To be beaten for a long time upon the soles of the feet, for example, affects laughter. Those who are so beaten never laugh again.”
– Salman Rushdie, The Moor’s Last Sigh
I realize I’m a couple days late, but it took me a while to remember where I read that.
That’s a great quote. But I have inside info that indicates that it ain’t true. But that’s Top Secret information. I may be putting my life at risk just mentioning it.
Hello, Frank!
Is this bastinado?
http://www.turnusol.biz/UserFiles/Image/2011/12eylulde04.gif
Looks like it. Note that bastinado is not necessarily involuntary. I’m not into pain myself, but different strokes!