Blow You To Smithereens

[Liora Putcha]

Despiteits American sound and its common use by the fiery animated cartoon character Yosemite Sam, smithereens did not originate in American slang. Although no one is entirely positive about its precise origins, scholars think that smithereens likely developed from the Irish word smidirn, which means "little bits." That Irish word is the diminutive of smiodar, meaning "fragment." According to print evidence, the plural form smithereens first appears in English in the late 18th century; use of singular smithereen then follows.

Probably because the term has been associated to terms like blow or smash since its origin. Its usage can also be found outside military contexts as suggested in the extract from the MacMillan Dictionary below:

The notion of things being 'broken/smashed/blown to smithereens' dates from at least the turn of the 19th century. Francis Plowden, in The History of Ireland, 1801, records a threat made against a Mr. Pounden by a group of Orangemen:

means tiny bits, shattered fragments. The word smithereens is often seen in the phrases blow, blew, blowing or blown to smithereens, and smash, smashes, smashing or smashed to smithereens.

The word smithereens can be traced back to the Irish Gaelic word smidirin, which is a diminutive of the word smiodar, which means piece or fragment. The suffix -een was tacked on as an additional diminutive.

Although "smashing to smithereens" sounds like an inherently violent process, Green is correct that the expression may be used figuratively to refer to such things as emotional tumults that involve no real-world violence. One such early example is from "The Can-Can," in The Book of Comic Songs and Recitations (1874):

With regard to the Phrase Finder date of 1801 for smithereens in Francis Plowden, The History of Ireland, the quoted text actually appears in Plowden's The History of Ireland, From Its Union with Great Britain, in January 1801, to October 1810, volume 3 (1811), which reports that the word was used in a threatening anonymous note left near the hall door of a magistrate named Pounden in the summer of 1810:

It thus appears that the notice cited in The History of Ireland was written by night marauders in the summer of 1810 and reprinted in Plowden's history in 1811. The 1795 instance from Macready's play is 15 years older.

Here is my submission to FORM's All Nighter Volume 8, unchanged from when I submitted it. This will also be my last solo song for the foreseeable future as I plan to take a step back from this alias and figure out what the next step in my music journey will be.I hope you enjoy.Lyrics:You know it's never not enoughThe gap between your heart and mineNo they can't combineBut when we're atomised to dustMaybe then we'll truly intertwineTil the end of timeYeah you always saw the quiet in the loudAlways got the smile out of the frownFound the silver linings in every mushroom cloudSo when we're atomised to dustForever changing His designI think we'll be just fineI'm not giving upCoz what we gotIs more than enoughSo when we're blown to smithereens I'll shed a tearCoz I hope we left enough to show we were hereWe said a million words without a soundAs the bullets rain downAnd as we slip the surly bonds of earthLet our last breath be as pure as our firstYour hands are coldWarm them up with my failing breath(Yeah)Our tales been toldGod knows how much longer we've got left, yeahI'm not giving upCoz what we gotIs more than enoughAnd if it's you and meFor eternityThen it's worked out perfectlyAnd if we're blown to smithereens I'll shed a tearCoz I hope we left enough to show we were here, yeahWe said a million words without a soundAs the bullets rain downAnd as we slip the surly bonds of earthLet our last breath be as pure as ourLove for each otherOne anotherCan't believe I gottaFight for my right To survive this 'alternative life'Will you see me on the news?Showing off my black and blueI'm not giving upCause what we gotIs more than enoughAnd as we're blown to smithereens I'll shed a tearCoz I hope we left enough to show we were here(To show we were here)We said a million words without a soundAs the bullets rain downAnd as we slip the surly bonds of earthLet our last breath be as pure as our first

"It was designed as a showcase and playground of captive penguins, and I can't see that it would be suited to anything else," she told local paper the Camden New Journal. "Perhaps it's time to blow it to smithereens."

"Of course, like all areas of human endeavour, knowledge about animals and their habits is constantly changing and evolving, so in all probability what was the latest thinking in the 1930s has long been superseded."

Allan, who wrote Berthold Lubetkin's biography, worked on the restoration of the Penguin Pool in the 1980s. He claimed that the flaws of the enclosure the result of decisions made by London Zoo, rather than the designers.

He also noted that the enclosure had been originally designed for an Antarctic species of penguins who like to huddle together. The zoo switched to South American Humbolts, who prefer to burrow, rendering the original nesting boxes unsuitable.

George Osborne, editor of the Evening Standard and former chancellor, wrote back to agree that destroying the Grade I-listed building would be an "an act of cultural vandalism", calling Sasha Lubetkin's comments "patricidal".

"Your observation that the original plan, if followed, would have been more animal-friendly reminds me of plenty of projects in politics that on paper look perfect but in practice are a fiasco. Brexit, anyone?"

London Zoos penguins now live in a new enclosure called Penguin Beach, which is the largest penguin pool in Europe. Some alligators were kept in Lubetkin's structure for a brief time, but for now the Grade-I-listed structure is animal-less.

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At one point, Switzerland had 15,000 hidden fortresses protecting roads, railways, and mountain passes. We see evidence of them hidden everywhere. On hikes, we regularly see doors in the sides of mountains, fake stonework, etc. in the middle of nowhere. Knowing that they likely concealing something for the military, we stay well away.

Although Swiss armed forces have a purely defensive role, military service is still compulsory (Women can volunteer for most units). Heck, with a plan like that you need more than just a couple of people around who have practiced how to blow their country up.

Interesting post. Do you know how they handle gun control in Switzerland? I was aware of the compulsory service, but I heard that for the amount of the population that have guns, they have a very low gun violence rate. Which would make sense given that 1.) everybody is properly trained in using them and 2.) everybody knows that everybody else is properly trained in using them ?

Matthew Chapman is a video game designer who attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and lives in San Marcos, Texas. Before joining Raw Story, he wrote for Shareblue and AlterNet, specializing in election and policy coverage.

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) has a big problem, former Trump administration communications chief Anthony Scaramucci told CNN's Boris Sanchez Thursday. He is constantly at risk of overshadowing former President Donald Trump himself.

This comes amid reporting that Trump is already regretting his choice of Vance, which he made at a moment when he felt that he had already locked up the race and didn't think he needed a running mate who balanced the ticket pragmatically.

"Given that vantage point that you've had into Donald Trump, how do you think he's absorbing these comments by J.D. Vance about 'childless cat people' and the sort of blowback that he's gotten on social media and elsewhere from women notably, a subset of voters that Republicans haven't had the most success with?"

"What made Vice President Mike Pence successful as a vice presidential candidate is he understood President Trump's personality," said Scaramucci, who became a sharp Trump critic after a catastrophic and brief 10-day stint in the administration.

"He took a back seat and his attitude was do no harm, say nothing that could be overly advantageous or disadvantageous. J.D. Vance is a different beast. He's 39 years old. He's very ambitious. He has a very high opinion of himself. He sees this as a moment for him to shine, as opposed to a moment to take a backseat to Donald Trump."

And that's a problem he added, because, "remember, when Donald Trump has somebody in his field of vision that's getting attention, he usually blows them to smithereens. He did it on 'The Apprentice' with that blonde woman in the first two seasons. There was a joke inside the administration: if you're getting too much attention and Trump leans over to you and says, 'Oh, who are you, President Bannon now?' or 'You're getting more popular than me,' it was time to book a trip to Antarctica and to go into hiding."

Vance, who has been slammed with several negative news stories and is plagued online by memes about couches and dolphins, took to social media over the weekend to lob some insults at Harris, who is likely to be the Democratic nominee in the upcoming election.

During an appearance on MSNBC on Saturday afternoon, a former key adviser to ex-House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) admitted that he is stunned at how badly things have gone for Sen. J.D. Vance since Donald Trump chose him as his presidential running mate, and questioned whether the Ohio Republican can stop his downward spiral.

Speaking with host Alex Witt, the topic turned to the wide array of controversies that have arisen after Don Trump Jr. and his brother Eric pushed their dad to select Vance which has GOP insiders now wondering how much damage he will do to not only their presidential hopes but also down-ticket GOP candidates.

According to Brendan Buck, Vance has been a mess that the GOP is trying to clean up due to comments he made that are insulting to women before his selection.

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