thliptic

manilamac commented on the word thliptic

Thliptic is the adjetive form of thlipsis. The note below is something I also posted for thlipsis; it comes from a short essay by William Long at: http://www.drbilllong.com/Words/Thi.html

That, by the way, is as a medical term meaning "compression, especially constriction of vessels by an external cause." Indeed, the Greek root means "pressure" or "crushing," with the verb being "thlibein," but it was taken over by the early Christians to denote the Great Tribulation that was supposed to happen at the end times. This Tribulation (the "thlipsis") would see oppression, death and slaughter throughout the earth until the Second Coming of Christ. So, why not capture the word for use today in a non-medical way? People's lives are always falling apart, and we need to have some linguistic variety in describing these events. People make far too much use of the words "disaster" or "train wreck" or even "holocaust" to describe their personal losses. Let's bring back thlipsis to describe a personal catastrophe. "The thlipsis I endured was almost more than I could bear." "The thliptic devastation reduced her to tears." Even if the disaster doesn't go away you will at least derive some pleasure from pronouncing the word.

June 28, 2009