Wednesday word: diegetic (sound)

[trellia-chan.livejournal.com]

In the language of moviemaking, diegetic sound is sound whose source is visible on the screen or whose source is implied to be present by the action of the film, or any sound presented as originated from source within the film's world.  Examples of diegetic sound would be the voices of the characters, sounds made by objects within the story, or music that is coming from either instruments or a radio within the story space.  Diegetic sound may be heard by the characters within the story.

Contrariwise, non-diegetic sound is sound whose source is neither visible on the screen nor has been implied to be present in the action.  Examples of this would be a narrator's commentary voice-over or the film's musical score (mood music).

Origin: Greek, from the word diegesis which means "recounted story.  Again, in the language of movies, a film's diegesis is the total world of the story action.

Thursday word: rhytidectomy

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

rhytidectomy (rit-i-DEK-tuh-mee) - n., the surgical removal of facial wrinkles.


The technical medical term for a face-lift -- which, if you've ever been curious about it, involves removing some skin and pulling the rest tighter, a fairly tricky procedure, given the skin isn't flat and you have to redrape it over the flesh beneath. Which vastly oversimplifies current processes and techniques, but this is a lexical blog not a medical journal. Suffice it to say, coined around 1930 from Greek rhytid-, the stem form of rhytís, wrinkle + ec-, a form of ex-, out/away + tomia, cutting.

With Botox or the ever-popular rhytidectomy, the patina of age can be polished away -- at least for a brief time.

---L.