# Defenestration **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 24, 2007, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestration/401459 "2007-04-24T15:19:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestration/401459/1 "2007-04-24T15:19:53Z")
[Defenestration](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestration): The act of throwing someone or something out of a window. Okay. Just why do we need a word for that? I was 40 before I encountered it the first time and now that I’m about to turn 42 I’ve seen it exactly twice. How many other words are out there because someone was bored and decided to create one? How many of you are reading this because you saw the topic and thought WTF? ---
**Author:** ![Olive\_The\_Other\_Reindeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Olive\_The\_Other\_Reindeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olive_The_Other_Reindeer)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestration/401459/2 "2007-04-24T15:25:41Z")
[QUOTE=Projammer] [Defenestration](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestration): The act of throwing someone or something out of a window. Okay. Just why do we need a word for that? I was 40 before I encountered it the first time and now that I’m about to turn 42 I’ve seen it exactly twice. How many other words are out there because someone was bored and decided to create one? How many of you are reading this because you saw the topic and thought WTF? [/QUOTE] It’s useful when you use that term in context, and the person you’re talking to has no idea what the word means, such as in . . . “I was so mad at my dog humping my new couch, I defenestrated him.” The look on the face of the other person is usually priceless. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestration/401459/3 "2007-04-24T15:31:10Z")
[QUOTE=Projammer] How many of you are reading this because you saw the topic and thought WTF? [/QUOTE] You obviously haven’t studied European History. The Defenestration of Prague started the Thirty Years War, after all. ---
**Author:** ![Terrorcotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dbc845/32.png) [@Terrorcotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrorcotta)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestration/401459/4 "2007-04-24T15:31:37Z")
It’s one of those odd words that _sounds_ like it should mean something closer to ‘removal’ such as ‘The peacock was defenestrated by Hurrican Andrew.’ I’ve known _of_ the word for years but never seemed to have any use for since I wasn’t 100% sure of the meaning. Thanks for clearing it up! ---
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestration/401459/5 "2007-04-24T15:31:53Z")
What else could Max Shreck do to Selina Kyle? ---
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestration/401459/6 "2007-04-24T15:37:55Z")
I learned this word (among many others) from Calvin and Hobbes. sigh ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestration/401459/7 "2007-04-24T15:42:57Z")
[QUOTE=Olive, The Other Reindeer] It’s useful when you use that term in context, and the person you’re talking to has no idea what the word means, such as in . . [/QUOTE] True. I threatened to defenestrate a co-worker yesterday and he didn’t know whether to duck or cross his legs. 😃 But part of the purpose of this thread was to collect words that have struck other people in the same way.. ie. Why is there a word for this.. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestration/401459/8 "2007-04-24T15:44:50Z")
I still say defensetrate means to remove windows, and to throw someone through the window would be to transfenstrate them. ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestration/401459/9 "2007-04-24T15:46:07Z")
[QUOTE=stolichnaya] I learned this word (among many others) from Calvin and Hobbes. sigh [/QUOTE] My senior year English teacher was fond of using this word. In fact, she demonstrated it a couple of times when some of the kids were being stupid with their not paying attention habits. Those kids were lucky it was just books. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestration/401459/10 "2007-04-24T15:46:52Z")
I think that it’s one of those words that doesn’t mean what it sounds like. It _should_ mean to remove the windows from a building. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestration/401459/11 "2007-04-24T15:52:26Z")
How often do we use the word ‘saponification’? I’m tempted to write some code that makes SOAP calls so I can make a method called ‘saponify’. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestration/401459/12 "2007-04-24T15:57:54Z")
[QUOTE=Paintcharge] I think that it’s one of those words that doesn’t mean what it sounds like. It _should_ mean to remove the windows from a building. [/QUOTE] Defenestrating someone has a tendency to accomplish that, though. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestration/401459/13 "2007-04-24T15:57:58Z")
I’m assuming that at your house you throw slops out the window less frequently than in days of old, obviating the need for both “defenestrate” and the cry “Garday-loo!” ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestration/401459/14 "2007-04-24T16:05:59Z")
When first viewing ‘Nobody’s Fool’, the word flashed in my head as Paul Newman’s character, Sully, daydreams of defenestrating his former employer. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![coffeecat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coffeecat/32/3405_2.png) [@coffeecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffeecat)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestration/401459/15 "2007-04-24T16:07:10Z")
What would we do with Ermintrude Inch without it? ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestration/401459/16 "2007-04-24T16:09:50Z")
Precise words such as defenestration make it easier to eschew obfuscation. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestration/401459/17 "2007-04-24T16:12:32Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > But part of the purpose of this thread was to collect words that have struck other people in the same way.. ie. Why is there a word for this.. Okay, here’s one: uxurious. Hubby ran across this word in a book some years ago, had no clue what it meant, and brought the book to me. I’d never seen the word, either. We had to look in _three_ dictionaries before we found one that had it. It means “to be foolishly infatuated with one’s wife”. Ummm, what? However, the one purpose that word served, is that for several years afterwards, our test of whether a dictionary was a good one or not was whether it contained the word uxurious. Oh, yeah, it also helped me score a 100% in a Reader’s Digest “Word Power” quiz. ---
**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:** [April 24, 2007, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestration/401459/18 "2007-04-24T16:15:07Z")
[QUOTE=Olive, The Other Reindeer] It’s useful when you use that term in context, and the person you’re talking to has no idea what the word means, such as in . . . “I was so mad at my dog humping my new couch, I defenestrated him.” The look on the face of the other person is usually priceless. [/QUOTE] Psst, **Olive** : your epidermis is showing! :eek: 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestration/401459/19 "2007-04-24T16:21:47Z")
I defenestrated my friend’s computer the other day. Now it runs Linux. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestration/401459/20 "2007-04-24T16:29:53Z")
The OP’s point remains: does anyone use “defenestrated” unironically? I would never seriously use it. Watterson’s use is tongue-in-cheek at best. I appreciate accuracy, but “I threw the cat out the window” is in almost all conceivable cases easier to understand and more satisfying to read than “I defenestrated the cat.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defenestration/401459.md?page=2)