# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/41 "2020-05-23T18:59:47Z")
> [@Toxgoddess](#): > > 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. Balderdash is the outdoor game where all the great-uncles have a relay race. ---
**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, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/42 "2020-05-23T19:32:00Z")
> [@Toxgoddess](#): > > 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. I immediately thought of the ancient TV show (UK; apparently based on a US original) Call My Bluff. [Here’s a taster](https://youtu.be/XzJejDP7u3U?t=68) - the video quality is pretty awful, BUT the edition I happened upon features the recently deceased Tim Brooke-Taylor and the wonderful and much missed Victoria Wood, both looking alarmingly young. So I’m sticking with this video for sentimental reasons. j ---
**Author:** ![its\_the\_daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bb73d2/32.png) [@its\_the\_daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/its_the_daddy)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/43 "2020-05-23T20:21:45Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > …then stole his soup coldly." Must have been gazpacho (my Mexican friend, who is also my accomplice in banditry) ---
**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, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/44 "2020-05-23T21:07:43Z")
_Viva Gazpacho!_ ---
**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, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/45 "2020-05-23T22:24:24Z")
And I’m not trying to bring up Trump’s statement, but: Testing positive for a disease should meant you don’t have it. “I tested positive for cancer. That’s a very positive thing.” Testing negative should be the other one because it is bad. ---
**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, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/46 "2020-05-23T23:07:23Z")
You can patronize a restaurant, but don’t patronize the servers. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/47 "2020-05-23T23:10:36Z")
“Palimpsest” was the name of a literary magazine featuring Iowa-only authors that was published for many years. One of James Michener’s books, that was set in the present day (IIRC it was “Space”) featured a phony TV preacher named Leopold Strabismus; he chose that surname because few people would know what that really meant. ---
**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, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/48 "2020-05-23T23:43:28Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > “Palimpsest” was the name of a literary magazine featuring Iowa-only authors that was published for many years. > > One of James Michener’s books, that was set in the present day (IIRC it was “Space”) featured a phony TV preacher named Leopold Strabismus; he chose that surname because few people would know what that really meant. > [@](#): > > Strabismus is a visual problem in which the eyes are not aligned properly and point in different directions. One eye may look straight ahead, while the other eye turns inward, outward, upward, or downward. The eye turn may be consistent, or it may come and go. There was a girl with this condition in my high school class. It always seemed that she was looking just to the side of you. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/49 "2020-05-24T10:56:11Z")
If another Briton might weigh in – > [@Treppenwitz](#): > > I immediately thought of the ancient TV show (UK; apparently based on a US original) Call My Bluff. [Here’s a taster](https://youtu.be/XzJejDP7u3U?t=68) - the video quality is pretty awful, BUT the edition I happened upon features the recently deceased Tim Brooke-Taylor and the wonderful and much missed Victoria Wood, both looking alarmingly young. So I’m sticking with this video for sentimental reasons. There’s a British thing – I gather, initially a brainchild of Tim Brooke-Taylor among others – called the “Uxbridge English Dictionary”: featuring a huge number of “what words ought to mean…” ; including the use of many British place-names, Uxbridge being one. I’m hopeless at doing links: so need to take the tack of “Google _Uxbridge English Dictionary_; the first ‘hit’ should be the online edition of same, ‘ready to go’ in all its glory.” (I’m often a miserable so-and-so; this subset of humour does little for me – but “for them as likes…”) > [@nearwildheaven](#): > > One of James Michener’s books, that was set in the present day (IIRC it was “Space”) featured a phony TV preacher named Leopold Strabismus; he chose that surname because few people would know what that really meant. A very similar thing was done by the British humorist J.B. Morton (pseudonym “Beachcomber”). fl. 1925 - 75 – shall we figure that he and Michener thought of it independently? “Beachcomber” turned out great quantities of, to my taste, wonderfully crazy and off-the-wall stuff: created many weird characters, including Dr. Strabismus of Utrecht – the ultimate mad scientist and inventor of useless / non-functioning devices. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/50 "2020-05-24T11:50:37Z")
“Sued” and “Impeached” should mean you successfully did the thing. And NOT tried to do the thing. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/51 "2020-05-24T12:07:00Z")
There was (verum dico) some annoying activist on Lesbos who insisted only genuine residents could be Lesbians, not foreign “sexual deviants”— lost a court case and everything. ---
**Author:** ![Sandwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@Sandwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sandwood)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/52 "2020-05-24T12:16:38Z")
I always thought plumbago definitely sounds like an occupational illness that a plumber would get from having to bend down so much when fixing pipes. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/53 "2020-05-24T12:19:24Z")
A pergola is clearly a leafy plant. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/54 "2020-05-24T12:28:35Z")
> [@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. 🙂 > [@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)). > [@Treppenwitz](#): > > 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: > > j > [@nearwildheaven](#): > > “Palimpsest” was the name of a literary magazine featuring Iowa-only authors that was published for many years. > > One of James Michener’s books, that was set in the present day (IIRC it was “Space”) featured a phony TV preacher named Leopold Strabismus; he chose that surname because few people would know what that really meant. I believe I first encountered “palimpsest” as the title of Gore Vidal’s memoir. It’s defined on the first page, so I spent very little time wondering what it means. ---
**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 24, 2020, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/55 "2020-05-24T13:05:27Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **UltraVires** : > > And I’m not trying to bring up Trump’s statement, but: > > Testing positive for a disease should meant you don’t have it. “I tested positive for cancer. That’s a very positive thing.” > > Testing negative should be the other one because it is bad. I dunno, the last time I tested positive for a disease, I was very happy about it. All of the other possible explanations for the symptoms I was having would have been much, much worse. And knowing for sure meant it was possible to move forward with treatment. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/56 "2020-05-24T13:13:56Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > “Sued” and “Impeached” should mean you successfully did the thing. And NOT tried to do the thing. “Impeached” should mean “punished with a pelting of peaches.” ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/57 "2020-05-24T13:29:19Z")
The word “plebiscite” should refer to something medical, most likely some component of your blood. It certainly shouldn’t have anything to do with voting. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/58 "2020-05-24T18:16:46Z")
“Melanoma” sounds like the name of a a beautiful island in the Caribbean that’s a lovely vacation destination. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/59 "2020-05-24T18:23:32Z")
“Glad you had a nice tropical vacation; by the way, do you have any idea where you got that melanoma?” “Melanoma.” ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312/60 "2020-05-24T18:47:07Z")
I took my car in to get attired. A few years later I got it retired. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bad-case-of-palimpsest-words-that-mean-the-wrong-thing/854312.md?page=4)