🚀 go-pugleaf

> 
> First of all, would you please translate the following sentence for me?
> 
>            "Why on earth would an editor be absent compunction about
> 	   dispossessing such a useful word?"
> 

    why on earth -- a pagan expression, usually followed in AS languages
                    by a statement of some hypothetical or existing 
                    condition. Prob. parallel to 'peace on earth'.
                    'Why' is traditionally associated with one of the
                    seven major Taunts of Reasoning, along with Who,
                    What, Where, When, and cetera.  The gist of the
                    expression is that when Why comes to reign on earth,
                    then the following statement will be known in Whyfor.

    would an editor be -- conditional.  Often confusing due to the similar
                    phonological content of the phrase "wooden editor bee."

    absent --       hot new preposition of the millenium.  Hotly contested
                    by grammar and word hawks in part because this usage 
                    originated in the deep jargon (I know--ick ewww) of 
                    the English language legal/judicial trade.  This 
                    objection to usage is not found among reasonable people
                    as they are amenable to the model of commerce and trade
                    as a mechanism of growth in a language.

    compunction --  My 2nd Ed Random House Unabridged says this is a hand-
                    me-down from Latin:  compugere, to prick severely.  I
                    hate it when that happens, and I avoid circumstances
                    wherein I that has happened to me.  As well I might,
                    for while its meaning is diminished from Latin times,
                    I am still within bounds when I say that compunction
                    is "any uneasiness or hesitation about the rightness
                    of an action."
  
    about  --       what's wrong with you?  Get another dictionary.

    dispossessing-- 'dis-'  a totally contemporary concept.  And a 
                    timeless one as well.  'Possess' is likewise an
                    ubiquitous concept which needs no further explanation.  
                    RH 2nd gives this nice summary:  "to put (a person) 
                    out of possession , esp. of real property."  I am a bit
                    surprised to find that my Webster's New Collegiate 2nd
                    uses such similar language:  "To put out of possession,
                    esp. of land."  

    such a useful word -- this is just the kind of thing that sounds so 
                    much better in Spanish (or Italian).  But what the
                    heck, it really speaks for itself.


Now, put 'em all together:

                   "Shame on you for not allowing that word!"