EXSANGUINE

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Dr. Goodword
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EXSANGUINE

Postby Dr. Goodword » Sat Nov 17, 2012 12:47 am

• exsanguine •

Pronunciation: ek-sæng-gwin • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: 1. Without or lacking blood, having lost considerable blood. 2. Anemic, appearing to lack blood.

Notes: Today's Good Word belongs to a large extended family, including three fraternal twins, exsanguineous, exsanguinous, and exsanguious, with the same meaning. To drain blood out of something is to exsanguinate it, while the state of being without blood is exsanguinity. Without the prefix ex- we get sanguine, which means, in addition to "bloody" and "blood-red", "hopeful, confident", a meaning going back to the days when blood was considered the humor that controlled good spirits.

In Play: Today's word provides the reason for faces turning white: "Buster's face became exsanguine at the sound of his pants ripping." However, exsanguine is more often applied to a sense of exhaustion in the sense of the phrase 'I feel drained', as in: "After six straight hours of shopping, Louise was so exsanguine that, when she returned home, she plopped immediately in her easy chair and was asleep in less than a minute."

Word History: Today's Good Word was among the hordes of words shanghaied from Latin via Old French. Latin exsanguis "bloodless" was based on ex "out (of)" + sanguis "blood". No one knows where sanguis came from; of all the Indo-European languages, it appears only in Latin. It devolved into French sang "blood", which English uses in phrases it also borrowed from French, sang-froid "coolness, detachment", literally "cold blood", and the deep red color, sang-de-boeuf. literally "blood of beef". The root appears in other words, too, such as consanguine "related by blood" and sangria. (Yuck! It will never taste the same again.) (We thank the very sanguine Sara Goldman, a woman with words in her blood, for her suggestion of today's very Good Word.)
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MTC
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Re: EXSANGUINE

Postby MTC » Sat Nov 17, 2012 9:02 am

EXANGUINE

Bloodless exsanguine,
Cold as a mortician's table,
White as a marbled sepulchre,
Icy like the fingers of Death,
Drains the rose
Of its red,
The life
From our veins.

by MTC

LukeJavan8
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Re: EXSANGUINE

Postby LukeJavan8 » Sat Nov 17, 2012 1:13 pm

It is so amazing how modern TV and movies
go to extremes to show blood, but old time westerns,e.g.,
just had the 'bad guy' grab his chest and fall over.
-----please, draw me a sheep-----

Perry Lassiter
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Re: EXSANGUINE

Postby Perry Lassiter » Sat Nov 17, 2012 1:23 pm

From MTC's way with words and location, I would swear he's a film or tv writer, except for the quality of writing not matching his!
pl

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Re: EXSANGUINE

Postby Philip Hudson » Sat Nov 17, 2012 5:00 pm

Perry: I think we all recognize and appreciate what MTC brings to this forum. Thank you, MTC, for this exsanguine, but definitely not anemic, poetic contribution.
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.

MTC
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Re: EXSANGUINE

Postby MTC » Sun Nov 18, 2012 9:58 am

I very much appreciate you morale-boosting, manuscript-inducing remarks. Thank you all again.

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Slava
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Re: EXSANGUINE

Postby Slava » Sun Nov 18, 2012 6:53 pm

I'm happy to learn that Ms. Goldman is sanguine, not sanguinary. Otherwise she might exsanguinate us all.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

LukeJavan8
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Re: EXSANGUINE

Postby LukeJavan8 » Mon Nov 19, 2012 12:12 pm

When I was in the equivalent of middle school there was an
after school TV show for kids. It featured a spook movie
of some sort, somewhat Hallowe'en-y-ish or late
Friday night. It was hosted by a creepy character who
called himself Doctor Sanguinary.
-----please, draw me a sheep-----


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