Sunday, March 29, 2009

Of Bats and Boners

4 comments:

John Gustav-Wrathall said...

I think I actually have this comic.

"Boner" of course here referring to "gaff." But that is a truly awesome panel.

Knight of Nothing said...

I'm not surprised! You have the most extensive Batman comic collection of anyone I know.

Obviously I don't have statistics on this, but I would bet that in common usage the dictionary definition of the word has been totally eclipsed by the slang.

John Gustav-Wrathall said...

It's lovely what time does to language. Ironically, especially given that this panel -- judging from the style of the art -- was likely penned during the reign of the infamous Comic Book Commission.

Of course that does make you wonder if the authors deliberately intended for the Joker to provoke a laugh here while technically observing linguistic decorum...

Knight of Nothing said...

"It's lovely what time does to language..." I was just making this point myself recently. Given enough time, some words even take on the exact opposite of their original meaning.