Death Panel: A Definition

Now comes N. Howe, the sole working partner in the august firm Dewey Diddlum & Howe, retained by this blog should things get out hand, with our Word for the Day—or term, in this case, a particularly obdurate one that has suddenly entered the lexicon.

The term—Death Panel, from the Middle English, deeth (it goes back from there): to die, and the Latin, pannelus, or piece (to include the vulgar usage), might conceivably sort out, from strictly etymological piecing, as it were, to mean: A piece of death ... which wouldn't be far from the mark, perhaps ...

But no. Our Man N Howe, in what little spare time all his other work allows, provides us with a more apt definition for the times: "Something that distracts from the real issue being discussed and that itself has no basis in fact or reality, but tends to create an emotional response in the uninformed. See also: 'red herring.'"

Our esteemed, overworked advisor in matters legal and otherwise also notes that the term, not surprisingly, has been verbed in legal circles, as in, "Your honor, the prosecution/defense is clearly death paneling me on that point."

This not surprising evolution of usage follows precedent from, for instance, the word impact, which over the years has been verbed into impacted (formerly only referring to one's tooth) and impacting, both of which generally announce that the person using the terms is an idiot, but not always.

That is all for now.

RIP Ted.