I personally have always thought it's cool that there's a specific word for chucking somebody out a window. Especially, since in theory, it's not really an activity one encounters on a day to day basis.

Can that word be applied to tossing someone out an airlock, like Laura Roslyn is fond of doing on Battlestar Galactica?

I think that's commonly referred to as "spacing" people. Which, as word, just doesn't have nearly the same flair.

From the Latin fenestra, window. Now if we only knew the Latin word for "airlock".

I think tossing someone out an airlock should be referred to as "vaccuuming" them.

From the Latin fenestra, window. Now if we only knew the Latin word for "airlock".

See you say this all tongue in cheek, but I say there probably is one that somebody made up. There is a guy in the Vatican whose job it is just to make up Latin words. (He does some other stuff, too, though.) If I could find my conversational Latin book (yes. yes. it's real) I'd tell you, but I can't find it right now.

There is a historical incident called "the Defenestration of Prague" which took place in the 1600s. It involved murder of opposing political peeps by, yes, throwing them out of a window. I know this because there used to be a standing dare in the Summer Stock theater I worked with to work the phrase into a performance without the audience noticing. First actor to do it won the congrats of his/her colleagues.

There is a historical incident called "the Defenestration of Prague"

History professor at school went on a tangent one day and ended up at that very point in history - he ended up there, he said, because he just liked the word so much. He was so fun when he picked up some random historical thread or other and just started telling stories. Anyway, that's my defenestration story.

In my high school German class, after we had learned that the German word for window was fenster, the teacher told us that was why defenestrate meant to throw out a window. It sounded like he made it up, and why would there be a word for that, so none of us believed him until I got a dictionary. That's my defenestration story. (Teacher didn't mention the Latin.)

Kiba, my niece speaks Latin. She took it as an elective in high school. I'd love to give her a copy of "conversational Latin"; heck, I'd love to have a copy myself! And making up words in Latin has to be the best job ever.

But if the Vatican has a need for the word airlock, I want to know what they're doing in there.

There is a historical incident called "the Defenestration of Prague" which took place in the 1600s.

I guess windows were a lot bigger in the 17th century.

Kiba, my niece speaks Latin. She took it as an elective in high school. I'd love to give her a copy of "conversational Latin"; heck, I'd love to have a copy myself! And making up words in Latin has to be the best job ever.

The book is called Conversational Latin for Oral Proficiency, runs $20 - $30 I think. (I got a huge discount because I bought it on a teachers' weekend at Borders.) It has words like "video game" in it (magnetoscopa, I think). My students and I had to make up words for projects... they were translating Dr. Seuss books into Latin and we had to make up words for things like "lumpy." Or "spotty." (Old Hat, New Hat) It was fun, and it's a great way to learn how words are put together, because you say "Okay, here's a noun that means x. To make an adjective, you take the noun and add this to it. Voila! Instant adjective!" Fun. Or at least, fun if you're a dork for etymology.