poliphilo: (Default)
poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2024-12-11 10:13 am

Melee

 Melee. 

It's one of those words from another language we've adopted into English because nothing we can come up with ourselves is quite as good.

It means a confused hand to hand fight. Wikipedia tells me it first appeared in 1648- just too late to be of use to the combatants in our Civil War- which saw a lot of that kind of fighting. 

Someone I follow on Youtube said of the state the world currently finds itself in that "the melee is beginning". 

I like it. Not the situation but the aptness of the word. 

The restraints are off, orders are not being obeyed, no-one quite knows what is going on. So lets just keep banging away- and eventually the smoke will clear and then we'll see who's still standing and what flag is flapping on the ramparts....
paserbyp: (Default)

[personal profile] paserbyp 2024-12-11 04:18 pm (UTC)(link)
A melee is a noisy free-for-all or rowdy fight — a no holds barred, battle royal, if you will. It's what pro wrestlers engage in every night, and shoppers endure at the toy store every holiday season.