# A bad case of palimpsest - words that mean the wrong thing. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 22, 2020, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312 "2020-05-22T20:05:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/21 "2020-05-23T02:46:38Z")
“Upshot” should not be the final outcome or solution of something. It should be the good parts of what happened: Yes, Covid-19 has been terrible, but the upshot was that I got a $1,200 stimulus check! ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/22 "2020-05-23T06:24:53Z")
> [@Civil\_Guy](#): > > _Esprit d’escalier_ is a high end cologne … "And these girl Marines have a wonderful esprit de corps. That’s their expression meaning,‘See if he has a brother.’ " – Bob Hope ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/23 "2020-05-23T09:38:04Z")
> [@Civil\_Guy](#): > > …_Treppenwitz_ is a quaint village in Austria, right? You know, posts like this make me really bucolic. j ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/24 "2020-05-23T09:46:40Z")
In other news, who would have thought that you could have a whole thread on\* Where I came across the word Palimpsest\*? My contribution is this: I first saw the word in an interview with David Bowie, where he used it to describe the song The Bewlay Brothers: > [@](#): > > The only pipe I have ever smoked was a cheap Bewlay. It was a common item in the late Sixties and for this song I used Bewlay as a cognomen in place of my own. This wasn’t just a song about brotherhood so I didn’t want to misrepresent it by using my true name. Having said that, I wouldn’t know how to interpret the lyric of this song other than suggesting that there are layers of ghosts within it. It’s a palimpsest, then. j ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/25 "2020-05-23T12:32:17Z")
Everyone knows that when you first get a facebook account you find all your relatives, classmates, co-workers, pals, buddies and “friend” them. Then later when they piss you off or annoy you you can “befriend” them. ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/26 "2020-05-23T12:47:24Z")
We all need to get together for a rousing game of Balderdash. No, I’m not kidding, it’s an actual game. A card has a word, say “palimpsest”, and five possible definitions -say, old manuscript, ornate pillow, TV episode title, etc. Players have to guess the correct definition. It’s the ultimate word-nerd game and one of my favorites. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/27 "2020-05-23T13:20:58Z")
> [@Civil\_Guy](#): > > _Esprit d’escalier_ is a high end cologne, and _Treppenwitz_ is a quaint village in Austria, right? That reminds me of a good entry of this sort from Monty Python: _Wainscotting_ sounds like a quaint Dorset village and not the strip of wood at the bottom of a wall. When I first heard that I couldn’t agree more with that observation. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/28 "2020-05-23T13:32:21Z")
Hoi polloi sounds like it should be society’s pompous elites, not the rabble. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/29 "2020-05-23T13:39:03Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Some of us who took Latin in high school knew all along that “pulchra” means beautiful, sooooo… > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > So “sepulchral” means…? > [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > …Must have to do with necrophilia, best I can figure. \*Sepulchral \*is not derived from _pulchra_. \*\*sepulchral \*\*(adj.) 1610s, “pertaining to a burial or place of burial,” from Latin \*\*sepulcralis \*\*“of a tomb, sepulchral,” from sepulcrum (see sepulchre) + -al (1). Transferred sense of “gloomy” is from 1711. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/30 "2020-05-23T15:37:44Z")
I dunno, I always think of “wainscotting” as being some fortunately bygone aspect of uncomfortable women’s fashion. Something like those elaborate sculpted dresses that make it impossible to sit down. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/31 "2020-05-23T15:41:55Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > It is also [one of my favorite time travel stories](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palimpsest_(novella)) and [a fantasy novel that I haven’t read](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palimpsest_(novel)). Not to be confused with a different time travel novel called Palimpsest **s** ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/32 "2020-05-23T15:45:37Z")
Patriarchy is a system of government where political power is based on who is the most patriotic. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/33 "2020-05-23T15:47:57Z")
**piquant** sounds like a fruit, perhaps having the taste the word describes. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/34 "2020-05-23T15:48:37Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Palimpsest is the title of an oddball L&O: Criminal Intent episode. I’ve never heard it used other than that, so that’s what it means to me. A made up word. 🙂 > [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > It is also [one of my favorite time travel stories](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palimpsest_(novella)) and [a fantasy novel that I haven’t read](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palimpsest_(novel)). > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > In a strange coincidence, two different science fiction authors independently used _Palimpsest_ as the title of a work in 2009; Charles Stross, for a [novella](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palimpsest_(novella)) and Catherynne Valente, for a [novel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palimpsest_(novel)). I now see Darren Garrison provided the same information well before I did. In my defense, I did do a word search for Stross and Valente before posting. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/35 "2020-05-23T16:06:18Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Hoi polloi sounds like it should be society’s pompous elites, not the rabble. Yes, exactly. “Hoi polloi” = “high people.” ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/36 "2020-05-23T16:28:36Z")
A Yellow Tamarillo is a tiny South American field rodent similar to the vole. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/37 "2020-05-23T16:36:16Z")
Cruciferous means crunchy. That’s why broccoli is cruciferous. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/38 "2020-05-23T17:01:23Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > OP is off his rocker. Palimpsest is clearly an ornate pillow. Don’t be silly. It’s obviously a musical instrument in the harpsichord family. I do medieval-style calligraphy, I can’t recall ever \*not \*knowing what a palimpsest is. They’re a great resource. In a scribal/medieval vein… An oubliette is some kind of paring knife not a prison. An angstloch is a panic attack, not a trapdoor. A misericord is a divorce agreement in which neither party is really satisfied, not a seat. A refectory is another name for a hall of mirrors. Not a dining room. A seminary is some kind of brothel, not a school. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/39 "2020-05-23T17:43:22Z")
Palimpsest sounds like it should have some sort of illicit sex definition. “Your honor, my client has been charged with palimpsest, but he never went near his friend while he was still on crutches.” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/40 "2020-05-23T18:30:28Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Palimpsest sounds like it should have some sort of illicit sex definition. “Your honor, my client has been charged with palimpsest, but he never went near his friend while he was still on crutches.” I think it sounds like a fancy type of fainting couch. You know, a welcoming piece of furniture for people who need to lie down. A pal for the limp set, if you will. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312.md?page=3)