Electrocute is a portmanteau of electro- and execute. It means to cause death by contact with an electric current. The term dates to the 1880s (Wikipedia says 1889).
There is some disagreement as to whether or not it also includes the instance of severe injury by electric shock. I take the bright line position that electrocute *always* me…
Electrocute is a portmanteau of electro- and execute. It means to cause death by contact with an electric current. The term dates to the 1880s (Wikipedia says 1889).
There is some disagreement as to whether or not it also includes the instance of severe injury by electric shock. I take the bright line position that electrocute *always* means death by contact with an electric current. Sever injury would be simply as a result of electric shock.
My recent and brief fascination with the word "electrocute" came about on Sunday as I was considering the distinct usefulness of toaster tongs and the realization that hundreds, possibly thousands of people were electrocuted using a knife or fork to retrieve toast from a toaster. A recent Google search yields the result of US Patent 3,957,298
In May 1889 the state of New York sentenced its first criminal, a street merchant named William Kemmler, to be executed in their new form of capital punishment. Tabloid newspapers, trying to describe this new form of electrical execution, started settling on "electrocution," a portmanteau word derived from "electro" and "execution".[11]
It was not the only choice of word people were considering. The New York Times editorial column noted words such as "Westinghoused" (after the Westinghouse Electric alternating current equipment that was to be used), "Gerrycide" (after Elbridge Thomas Gerry, who headed the New York death penalty commission that suggested adopting the electric chair), and "Browned" (after anti-AC activist Harold P. Brown).[12] Thomas Edison preferred the words dynamort, ampermort and electromort.[12] The New York Times hated the word electrocution, describing it as being pushed forward by "pretentious ignoramuses".[11]
Electrocute is a portmanteau of electro- and execute. It means to cause death by contact with an electric current. The term dates to the 1880s (Wikipedia says 1889).
There is some disagreement as to whether or not it also includes the instance of severe injury by electric shock. I take the bright line position that electrocute *always* means death by contact with an electric current. Sever injury would be simply as a result of electric shock.
My recent and brief fascination with the word "electrocute" came about on Sunday as I was considering the distinct usefulness of toaster tongs and the realization that hundreds, possibly thousands of people were electrocuted using a knife or fork to retrieve toast from a toaster. A recent Google search yields the result of US Patent 3,957,298
https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/47/99/28/dba3b9d64c19a9/US3957298.pdf
issued to Herbert K. Purchase for the invention of toaster tongs on May 18, 1976. Mr. Purchase applied for the patent on Dec. 3, 1974.
I'm vastly more comfortable with toaster ovens!
Chopsticks FTW
ETYMOLOGY (as per Wikipedia)
In May 1889 the state of New York sentenced its first criminal, a street merchant named William Kemmler, to be executed in their new form of capital punishment. Tabloid newspapers, trying to describe this new form of electrical execution, started settling on "electrocution," a portmanteau word derived from "electro" and "execution".[11]
It was not the only choice of word people were considering. The New York Times editorial column noted words such as "Westinghoused" (after the Westinghouse Electric alternating current equipment that was to be used), "Gerrycide" (after Elbridge Thomas Gerry, who headed the New York death penalty commission that suggested adopting the electric chair), and "Browned" (after anti-AC activist Harold P. Brown).[12] Thomas Edison preferred the words dynamort, ampermort and electromort.[12] The New York Times hated the word electrocution, describing it as being pushed forward by "pretentious ignoramuses".[11]