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 Yesterday just wasn't my day. Dellaney, my computer, decided to begin World War III. It seemed she was not going to be satisfied until she had by her obstinacy forced me to say something rather rude.

 

Thankfully, I have more self-control than Dellaney has and did not resort to maledictions, but I came pretty close. By the end of the day I quite felt like defenestrating something valuable.

 

For, as it happens, to defenestrate (pronounced dee-FEN-u-straight) means to fling something out a window.

 

Though now an excellent term to use when thinking dark, sinister thoughts about your computer, “defenestrate” came about because of a quite serious occasion.

 

On May 21, 1618, a newspaper invented the word for an article entitled “The Defenestration of Prague.” According to Etymology Online they wrote this essay when, “two Catholic deputies to the Bohemian national assembly and a secretary were tossed out the window (into a moat) of the castle of Hradshin by Protestant radicals”.

 

Apparently, this instigated the Thirty Years War, which involved most of Europe at the time. Note to self: Europeans take defenestration seriously.

 

The newspaper editors derived the term from two Latin words: de (meaning from) and fenestra (meaning window). Put them together, and we get “(to put) from a window.” Obviously, this is not as pleasant an experience for the defenestratee as it is for the defenestrator.

 

I leave you with a few important pieces of advice.

 

Do not defenestrate something you don't have the money to replace. Though it feels liberating at the time to chunk a sad excuse for technology out of one's sight and into the neighbor's yard, it is not freeing to have to save up to replace said hunk of metal.

 

Fluffy, the dog, is not eligible for defenestration. Neither is anything currently breathing.

Oh, and if you feel an insatiable urge to defenestrate, make sure you are not in Europe at the time.

 

 

Works Cited:

 

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/uimages/sf/1-12-09%20defenestrate%20closeup.jpg

 

 

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