- posted
11 years ago
"Electrocuted to death"
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- posted
11 years ago
What's wrong with electrocuted to death?
I suppose it could be electrocuted until dead.
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11 years ago
electrocution is execution by electricity and implies death already
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11 years ago
Electrified, if that doesn't sound a bit flippant. Simply shocked to death is perfectly acceptable.
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- posted
11 years ago
Well my dictionary defines electrocute as "kill by electricity" - so, if you ain't dead you ain't electrocuted. "Electrocute to death" is therefore a tautology.
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- posted
11 years ago
En el artículo , The Natural Philosopher escribió:
I'd understood electrocuti Definition of electrocute verb [with object]: injure or kill (someone) by electric shock: 'a man was electrocuted on the rail track'
Note the 'or'.
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- posted
11 years ago
Perhaps the etymology is more explicit than current-day definitions?
electrocute (v.) "execute by electricity," 1889, American English, from electro- + back half of execute. The method first was used Aug. 6, 1890, in New York state, on William Kemmler, convicted of the murder of his common-law wife. Sense involving accidental death is first recorded
1909. Electric chair is also first recorded 1889, which is when the first one was introduced in New York state as a humane alternative to hanging. Related: Electrocuted; electrocuting.Also:
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- posted
11 years ago
It all depends on what you mean by electrocuted I suppose. Its a funny old term. Brian
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11 years ago
I seem to recall that the term came into common use as a portmanteau of the words electric and execute around the time of the "war of the currents" in the US.
I have always felt it should only ever be used for fatal electric shocks.
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- posted
11 years ago
In article , Grimly Curmudgeon writes
To me, 'electrified' means the same as 'energised' - i.e. it's live.
Or to describe something which has been converted to work on electrical power - 'the water pump is now electrified'
Or to describe something particularly gripping - 'the movie was electrifying'
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- posted
11 years ago
Indeed. Electrocution may indeed be a method of execution, but so are hanging and shooting. None necessarily has a fatal outcome: you can be electrocuted, hanged or shot, but survive.
Cheers Richard
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11 years ago
r
But not neccassarily in that order, so is there another word when you get a= shock from electricity (and I don't mean the prices) but don't die. I thought it was 'ok' to be electrocuted and not die from it.
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11 years ago
That's like saying 'fatally shot' and not die from it.
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11 years ago
So why does one headline read.....
"Contractor killed after being electrocuted in Marks and Spencer store"
why mention being killed. or what is the term when you grab hold of say the live wire and you jerk around a bit or get flung over the other side of the room but survive, is it that you've just recived an electric shock ? I wonder if you can be brought back to life after being electrocuted or is that an oxymoron :)
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- posted
11 years ago
in which case it wasn't an execution...
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11 years ago
Because it was written by a sub editor with the intellect of a sausage?
I would say so.
I suppose in the sense that one can be clinically dead and revived, then you might argue yes. Although in that case it would probably be incorrect to use the term electrocution in the first place, since execution typically denotes a certain amount of finality.
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11 years ago
Marks and Sparks, eh?
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11 years ago
Language, and its use, changes. Get over it.
MBQ
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11 years ago
Unfortunately all modern dictionaries take the wimpy way and just record usage, rather than attempt to define a correct meaning. Which might be reasonable if they confined citation to the careful and literate, but they feel the need to be democratic and give weight to the babbling of the ignorant. And thus our language slowly turns to mush.
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- posted
11 years ago
Yes, from you, that's expected.