Word of the Day for Saturday May 26, 2001:

[Guest guest]

Word of the Day for Saturday May 26, 2001:

 

abattoir \AB-uh-twahr\, noun:

A slaughterhouse.

 

Cal's father works in the local abattoir and had

found

Cal

a job there, too, but he quit after a week because he

couldn't stand the smell.

--Anatole Broyard, " Domesticated Violence, " [1]New

York

Times, August 20, 1983

 

... the cries coming out of the abattoir we call the

twentieth century.

--Edward T. Oakes, " Edward T. Oakes and His Critics:

An

Exchange, " [2]First Things, April 2001

 

While shooting down a triple espresso-- " I need the

kick

start " --and looking for all the world like James

Joyce

buffed up on steroids, Ellroy rips into American

culture

like a chainsaw in an abattoir with the volume turned

 

up.

--Terry McCarthy, " James Ellroy Confidential, "

[3]Time, May

21, 2001

 

_______

 

Abattoir comes from French, from abattre, " to beat

down,

to

slaughter (an animal), " from a- (from Latin ad-) +

battre, " to

beat " (from Latin battuere).

 

References

 

1. http://www.nytimes.com/

2. http://www.firstthings.com/index.html

3. http://www.time.com/time

 

 

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