Author Topic: A "rent". (Read 2234 times)

Teshi · « **on:** May 08, 2006, 01:21:19 PM »

By "rent" I mean a tear in something, as in "a rent in a piece of clothing"- I had this in a story and it was questioned and I cannot find any instances of the use of the word "rent" meaning "tear"... I would use the OED to check but I'm back in Ottawa now and my university access is gone *tear*.

Am I going crazy? Is this some kind of archaic use of the word that I'm picking up on? Is it perhaps a britishism that I should steer clear of?

Porter · « **Reply #1 on:** May 08, 2006, 01:23:04 PM »

I don't know, but I'd guess that the proper word is "rend". I think that "rent" is the past tense of "rend".

Teshi · « **Reply #2 on:** May 08, 2006, 01:40:31 PM »

Hm. You are right. Perhaps my mind took the verb "rend" and did something weird with it, ending up with "rent" as a noun.

Teshi · « **Reply #3 on:** May 08, 2006, 01:54:09 PM »

Ha! No. I found it in a dictionary. A rent could be a large tear in something- usually clothing.

Now I wonder if I should use it, because it sounds like it's obscure and archaic...

Jonathon · « **Reply #4 on:** May 08, 2006, 02:03:02 PM »

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I found it in a dictionary.

That's usually a good place to check if you want to know whether something is a word.

Also, it's really not a very obscure or archaic word.

rivka · « **Reply #5 on:** May 08, 2006, 10:10:42 PM »

Yeah, I've been known to use it.

Ok, that's not really proof of much, but still . . .

JT · « **Reply #6 on:** May 09, 2006, 05:34:41 AM »

In my head, I hear it used in conjunction with 'twain'.

pooka · « **Reply #7 on:** May 09, 2006, 05:44:21 AM »

I've not heard it as a noun.

Noemon · « **Reply #8 on:** May 09, 2006, 08:17:06 AM »

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Also, it's really not a very obscure or archaic word.

Yeah, I agree with Jon Boy--it's relatively common, at least to my ear.

pooka · « **Reply #9 on:** May 09, 2006, 08:54:18 AM »

As a noun I can maybe see it being used in conjunction with "timespace". "There's a rent in the timespace continuum!" Like a rift, but more like global warming and less like something that will lead to character revealing hijinks with alternate universe personnae.

rivka · « **Reply #10 on:** May 09, 2006, 08:57:37 AM »

So a baby rift?

pooka · « **Reply #11 on:** May 09, 2006, 08:58:15 AM »

No, a mama rift.

saxon75 · « **Reply #12 on:** May 09, 2006, 09:11:38 AM »

"Timespace" always makes me do a slight doubletake. I'm much more used to "spacetime."

pooka · « **Reply #13 on:** May 09, 2006, 09:54:12 AM »

Oh, man. You're right. How did I do that? Maybe it was trying to think of a rent instead of a rift.