Like half of North America, I’m reading bits and pieces about the Virginia Tech massacre. But that’s not what I want to talk about.
I’m in a wordy mood. My word of the day is “brandish”. The student who killed all those people was seen, in his own video, “brandishing pistols”.
Here’s what Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary says:
Main Entry: brandish
Pronunciation: ‘bran-dish
Function: transitive verb
Etymology: Middle English braundisshen, from Anglo-French brandiss-, stem of brandir, from brant, braund sword, of Germanic origin; akin to Old English brand
1 : to shake or wave (as a weapon) menacingly
2 : to exhibit in an ostentatious or aggressive manner
So, we have a word linked to a particular class of nouns. When we use it in another fashion, such as speaking of a bride brandishing her bouquet, we’re parodying the bridal desperation, by likening the bouquet to a weapon. (So that’s why I dodge ‘em at weddings.)
Metaphorically speaking, pens are oft likened to swords. Here’s my question. If I’m angry enough, can I brandish a blog post?
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“Here’s my question. If I’m angry enough, can I brandish a blog post?”
I don’t see why not… Words can be weapons. Some keener than others, and a blog is merely the delivery method. As in the words are the bullet to the blogs gun. You really wouldn’t brandish a bullet, but the gun is what we see brandished.