Five children electrocuted in floodwaters and heavy rain in downtown Udon Thani

[KhaoYai]

On 9/17/2022 at 7:13 AM, macahoom said:

Why do some people think electrocution always involves death?

Because it used to - and it still should in my opinion.  I was aware that it had evolved to include serious injury but to my mind that is stupid.  If you 'Execute' someone, they are dead - there are no half measures - thus its the 'cute' portion that previously indicated death.  Its one thing for the spelling or even the pronunciation of a word to evolve but changing its entire meaning is just daft.

[chricha]

I am very happy to hear no-one died from an overdose of electrons at the school. I have had a few 240V electric shocks over the years but fortunately they were fleeting but I certainly woke up TO BE MORE CAREFUL!

 

However the diatribe on semantics over the word electrocution is quite humorous!

Dictionaries are (now) not the arbiter of word meaning or spelling but rather report on current and past usage as with the explosion of English as a second language the semantic usage and spelling are evolving rapidly

 

Take the word awe and see how the meaning of awe-full to awful have morphed from full of awe to really bad and awesome has gone from meaning inspiring wonder or fear to meaning bloody good or even fantastic!

So if electrocution which has been generally accepted as meaning death by excess electric shock is now widely used to mean severe shock but not necessarily death then this means there has been a semantic change and erudite readers will be aware of this and allow the context and facts to determine what actually happened. Erudite writers will clarify their usage so the reader is sure of the meaning.

 

Personally I get incensed by the increasing prevalence of whilst vs while, amidst vs amid amongst vs among and similar marketing driven self-aggrandising usage. But they missed out on erstwhilst - I wonder why? Even the snob realised it was doubly clumsy.

Try saying First whilst amidst analysts and amongst ghosts quickly vs

First while amid analysts and among ghosts is much more natural
 

 

 

[IamNoone88]

On 9/17/2022 at 9:57 AM, toofarnorth said:

When I read the headline I expected them to be dead .This is what happens to folk after electrocution.

No, it it includes injury

verb

past tense: electrocuted; past participle: electrocuted

1. injure or kill someone by electric shock.

[Burma Bill]

On 9/17/2022 at 1:00 PM, steven100 said:

I trust authorities found and fixed the problem. 

Did they get shocks as well???

[JimmyJ]

On 9/17/2022 at 1:13 PM, macahoom said:

 

Why do some people think electrocution always involves death?

 

e·lec·tro·cute

/əˈlektrəˌkyo͞ot/

 

verb

past tense: electrocuted; past participle: electrocuted

1. injure or kill someone by electric shock.

   "a man was electrocuted when he switched on the Christmas tree lights"

Because the USA is one of the primitive countries which use electricity to ritualistically kill people, to demonstrate that it is wrong to kill people.