today's outstanding word

Okay, don't read this one. Skip to the next entry down.

Today's outstanding word comes from the 1971 OED: Immane, a rarely used word meaning "Monstrous in size or strength; huge, vast, enormous, tremendous" or "Monstrous in character; inhumanely cruel or savage". Sentences such as "The immane terrorists immanely displayed their immanity by running immane planes into immane buildings" successfully expoit the play of duality inherent in the term - how, for example, are the buildings and planes immane? Are they just big? Or savage somehow? Similarly, are the terrorists really cruel? Or are they an NBA team? Unrelated but adjacent to immane is immanacle: to handcuff; to fetter; to put manacles on. Sentences such as "Immanely the immane police immanacled the already immanacled immane main man Vern" successfully remind us that Rain Man possesses significant cultural force that even now, eighteen years after its release, we are still moved by the thought of main man Vern being doubly and immanely immanacled. We are also a little shocked by the prospect of Vern's immanity; is he huge or cruel? Surely Rain Man's Main Man can't be cruel or savage; maybe he's just a big guy. But you don't remember him being all that big - just his soothing presence, his kind smile and generosity with the high fives. Plus that double immanacalization - it seems a bit much to me.

Study section (5-10 points)

1. Why did I write this?

a) I am immane.
b) I am immane, but not in the same sense as a).
c) I am immane and immane, and I am ashamed of one sort of immanity but proud of the other, and I'm not telling you which.
d) I am wasting your time.
e) This is pretty edifying.