Posted on 10/06/2011 4:18:52 AM PDT by secret garden
In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of "Word for the Day".
hamartia \hah-mahr-TEE-uh\ noun
tragic flaw
Example sentences:
Greed was the hamartia that ultimately brought down the protagonist.
"Kara Swisher, the co-executive editor of All Things D, also pointed out that being on TBS might be Conan's hamartia."
-- Michelle Castillo, CBSNEWS.com, August 23, 2011
Etymology:
"Harmartia" arose from the Greek verb "hamartanein," meaning "to miss the mark" or "to err." Aristotle introduced the term in the Poetics to describe the error of judgment which ultimately brings about the tragic hero's downfall. As you can imagine, the word is most often found in literary criticism. However, news writers occasionally employ the word when discussing the unexplainable misfortune or missteps of übercelebrities regarded as immortal gods and goddesses before being felled by their own shortcomings.
The sentence must, in some way, relate to the news of the day. The Review threads are linked for your edification. ;-)
Practice makes perfect.....post on....
Review Thread One: Word For The Day, Thursday 11/14/02: Raffish (Be SURE to check out posts #92 and #111 on this thread!)
Review Thread Two: Word For The Day, Tuesday 1/14/03: Roister
Review Thread Three: Word For The Day, Tuesday 1/28/03: Obdurate
WFB's attempt to emulate us ; ) No pushing at the door please!
Obama was on TV this morning
And I rushed to mute the sound
And returned to what work I have
While he ran our ship aground
The hamartia of this airhead
Is the idiocy of his schemes-
He’s like Jimmy Carter on steroids
And having grandiose dreams
As soon as his regime has ended
Let his punishment fit his crime-
While Carter is building houses
Let’s have Obama do jail time...
Something I found a bit odd - not evidence to convict, but odd - the mother put that baby to bed wearing shorts and a shirt, not a gown or nighty, but shorts - it was 56 degrees overnight.
I sleep in shorts when it’s 55 degrees overnight.
That is odd, but I confess that I sometimes used to put my daughter into her crib for the night in her shorts or other playclothes if she had fallen asleep in them, rather than wake her up.
You aren’t ten months old~ lol
I’m sure we all have done that at one time or another, but I would think on a cool night you might take a little more time to dress a baby accordingly. I may end up eating my words but something just doesn’t sound right about this story
No, but my point was 55 isn’t that cold. Kid probably had a blanket.
55 is cold when you weigh 28 pounds - and a ten month old doesn’t know how to pull a blanket up around them, that is why Moms dress their babies appropriately at night.
Hamartia, Ham Martya, sin — I could understand that....
I’ll defer to your experience. I don’t remember much of that age.
Absolutely. 55 indoors is very cold for an infant. It’s cold for an adult too and we know how to bundle ourselves up.
And for the record, a ten month old that weighs 28 pounds is ENORMOUS! I’m sure that baby was much lighter.
The thing that sounds strange to me is that the mom and other kids didn’t wake up as someone was sneaking in and stealing the baby. Maybe the family was careless and let someone have access to the house who should not have? When a baby that young is taken, it seems to be by someone who intends to either sell the kid or keep it because they want a child, or do not like the parents.
I guess how you dress a baby for sleep would also depend on where someone sets the thermostat, too-most of the people I knew when my daughter was little kept their homes far warmer than I would have-I kept the thermostat between 62 and 65, and just put extra covers on everyone, including the baby. I still keep it that cool in winter-anything warmer is too hot for me.
Now I’m confused-was it 55 outside or inside? I really can’t see someone keeping their home at 55 in this day and time, baby or no baby-that is why man invented heaters...
I read that there has been fewer than 400 home abductions in the last 25 or so years - so this is very rare.
Thank you for pointing this out. I was hoping someone would.
I would think that an abduction from a home would be damn near impossible unless the perpetrator knew the people who lived there, had been invited into the home numerous times so that their kids and barking dogs were familiar with them, and knew every way there was into the house undetected-risky and troublesome to kidnap from a home-it would be easier by far to do it the way it usually happens-follow a mom to a location like a park, mall, etc snatch a baby from a a stroller while mom is distracted and vanish into the crowd. Fortunately, these people DO get caught-I pray this kidnapper does, too-no matter what happened, the poor baby needs to be found.
A+ for you, F- for Carter 2.0.
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