Phonoaethstetics – "Put out the light, and then put out the light." Of all the slang for getting killed I think snuffed is the best. Though they’re all pretty much like Frost’s "Fire and Ice." Whacked has that gangland frisson same with bumped off or plain old offed which seems to be the least euphonic although terminated liquidated neutralized are clunky to boot terminated with extreme prejudice being the worst of them all. The list goes on: Iced – the act and aftermath all in one. Blown away is good as are waxed and smoked. Hit is a great action word and quite to the point. Oooh, lit up. OK, enough here’s the last of my favorites rubbed out and erased. Snuffed rubbed out erased candles drawings steam on a window pane here and then gone the hand at work disappeared without a chance and that’s that. After a WAPo headline about yet another killing – small time, only two dead, seven wounded – doesn’t get the “mass” designation. I might have titled this, “Sixteen Ways to Leave your Lover.” phonesthemes: a particular sound or sound sequence that suggests a certain meaning. “Put out the light, and then put out the light.” Othello, just before snuffing Desdemona. Fire and Ice by Robert Frost https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44263/fire-and-ice RW Seattle, WA 04.06.2024
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