Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Impale

IMPALE, v.t. In popular usage to pierce with any weapon which remains fixed in the wound. This, however, is inaccurate; to impale is, properly, to put to death by thrusting an upright sharp stake into the body, the victim being left in a sitting position. This was a common mode of punishment among many of the nations of antiquity, and is still in high favor in China and other parts of Asia. Down to the beginning of the fifteenth century it was widely employed in "churching" heretics and schismatics. Wolecraft calls it the "stoole of repentynge," and among the common people it was jocularly known as "riding the one legged horse." Ludwig Salzmann informs us that in Thibet impalement is considered the most appropriate punishment for crimes against religion; and although in China it is sometimes awarded for secular offences, it is most frequently adjudged in cases of sacrilege. To the person in actual experience of impalement it must be a matter of minor importance by what kind of civil or religious dissent he was made acquainted with its discomforts; but doubtless he would feel a certain satisfaction if able to contemplate himself in the character of a weather-cock on the spire of the True Church.

2010 Update: To liaise subcutaneously.

Note: I'm not sure how this week got to be hallowe'en but there you are.

14 comments:

Mo'a said...

First again, and with IMPALE being the word of the day, I am not a little worried.

tsduff said...

A small gray, black, and white bird of open areas, the Loggerhead Shrike hardly appears to be a predator. But it uses its hooked beak to kill insects, lizards, mice, and birds, and then IMPALES them on thorns to hold them while it rips them apart.

Thought you'd like to know.

TLP said...

Impale: What the Native-Americans said when they saw the first white settler: him pale. Of course what they should have said was, impale him!

the amoeba said...

IMPALE, v. To deliver the point.

I am reliably informed that only pre-deceased persons were impaled. Doubtless this did not, er, sit well with the Torturer's Guild, as it deprived them of the joys of seating a victim on the aforementioned one-legged horse and then administering a laxative.

Anonymous said...

IMPALE, v.t - Haole.

pia said...

I'm pale, not. Stupid I know but....

quilly said...

IMPALE, v.t. high stakes poke her.

Cooper said...

My love of vampires make this one of my least favorite words. ;)

immolate, impale...do I have to worry about you?

Jim said...

I always thought you could fall on a sharp object and be impaled. That would make it hard to SIT back up. :)
..
BTW, my kiddie filter kicked out on you again today for violent content.
..

k. riggs gardner said...

Dang. How frightening. It's a "Night of the Living Dead" rerun.

Guess what? Tom & Icy are over at my house saying Hello for all eternity at "Osmosis in Riverside" !!!

*Most* of y'all are invited to join him ...

Doug The Una said...

Mo'a, don't let TLP scare you. Her RSS reader runs just a little slowly what with all the torpedos she attaches to it.

Bottoms up, Actonbell!

Terry, in case you aren't following Nicole's (mostly) bird photography, you should be but especially today and if you look back, she has had a few different shrikes the last week or so. If you're wondering why I didn't tell you about it earlier, I honestly don't know.

TLP, you make a good case that they were a backwards bunch.

Amoeba, sacrifice is the price of piety. Pity the torturers.

Thom, you sure that isn't a noun?

Pia, tan and obvious make a fine combination.

Quilly, that just sounds wrong.

Cooper, maybe we all should, although I was raised on Electric Company and blame the letter "I."

Jim, we'll see what else "I" contains.

Thanks, Karen. That was a fun post.

sauerkraut said...

Went out in shorts today... and realized: impale and in need of a tan.

Anonymous said...

Ooops!!! My bad LOL

Cooper said...

I hate when I have to look something up.