Defenestration

For the heavy metal band, see Defenestration (band).

Defenestration is the act of throwing someone or something out of a window. The word comes from the Latin de ("from; out of") and fenestra ("window"). Merriam-Webster's dictionary users named it as one of their favorite words of the year in 2004. ^*

Usage

Defenestration can be used as a method to attempt murder or suicide. Defenestration from six stories leads to a 90% chance of death. ^*

Defenestration in history

Historically, the word "defenestration" was used as an act of political dissent. Notably, the Defenestrations of Prague (1419 and 1618) helped trigger prolonged conflict within Bohemia and beyond. Catholics ascribed the survival of those defenestrated at Prague Castle in 1618 to divine intervention, while Protestants claimed that it was due to their landing in a large pile of manure.

Other notable events in Prague's history include the defenestration of the Old-Town portreeve and the bodies of seven killed New-Town aldermen in 1483, and the death in 1948 of politician Jan Masaryk, whose body was found in the courtyard of the Foreign Ministry, below his bathroom window. A 2004 police investigation into his death concluded that, contrary to the initial ruling, he did not commit suicide, but was defenestrated by his opponents.

In the Bible, there is an account in 2 Kings 9:30-33 of Queen Jezebel's defenestration as part of the overthrow of Ahab's tyranical reign.

Also in the Bible, there is an account (Acts 20:9) of a man who fell from a window after falling asleep while listening to Saint Paul's over-long sermon.

It has been suggested by several chronicles (notably the Annals of Westhide Abbey) that King John killed his nephew, Arthur of Brittany, by throwing him from a window in the castle at Rouen, France, in 1203.
In 1383, Bishop Dom Martinho was defenestrated by the citizens of Lisbon, having been suspected of conspiring with the enemy when Lisbon was besieged by the Castilians.
In 1572, French King Charles IX's friend, the Huguenot leader Gaspard de Coligny was killed in accordance with the wishes of Charles' mother, Catherine de Medici. Charles had allegedly said "then kill them all that no man be left to reproach me." Thousands of Protestants were killed in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre after soldiers attacked Coligny in his house, stabbed him, and threw him out the window.
The Revolutions of 1848 in France led to a period of unrest in Germany. When an agitated crowd forced their way into the town hall in Cologne on March 3, two city councillors panicked and jumped out of the window; one of them broke both his legs. The event went down in the city’s history as the "Cologne Defenestration".
In 1941, high ranking mafia informant Abe "Kid Twist" Reles fell to his death from a window on the sixth floor of the Half Moon Hotel on Coney Island, on the eve of his scheduled testimony. The angle of trajectory suggests that he was defenestrated rather than trying to flee.

Modern usages

Defenestration has become popular as a term for switching from MS Windows to Linux or another operating system ^*. It is claimed this term originates in University of Helsinki in mid-1990s.

Gianluca Pessotto, general manager of Italian football powerhouse Juventus, defenestrated himself from a second story window in an attempted suicide on June 27 2006 amidst investigations into the Serie A scandal of 2006, although he was not implicated.

Defenestration in popular culture

Film

In Reefer Madness (1936), Blanche, the dealer, defenestrates herself out of guilt.
In Cinderella, (1950), Bruno the dog defenestrates Lucifer the cat.
In Diamonds Are Forever (1971), henchmen working for Ernst Stavro Blofeld defenestrate Plenty O'Toole.
In A Clockwork Orange (1971), Alex defenestrates himself from the top-floor room where he's being held captive; though this was a suicide attempt, it proved unsuccessful.
In The Exorcist (1973), the devil defenestrates Burke Dennings, and Father Karras defenestrates the devil/himself.
In The Eagle Has Landed (1976), the patrons of a pub defenestrate Liam Devlin.
In Die Hard (1988), John McClane attracts the attention of Sgt. Al Powell by defenestrating Marco, and later defenestrates Hans Gruber, the leader of the "terrorists".
In Child's Play (1988), the first victim of the movie, Maggie (the babysitter) is defenestrated on Chicago's north side Lincoln Park, from the apartment's windowed tower.
In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), Indiana Jones defenestrates a Nazi officer from a Zeppelin.
In Prince of Thieves (1991), Friar Tuck defenestrates a Bishop, after accusing him of corruption.
In Batman Returns (1992), Max Schreck pushes Selina Kyle (later to become Catwoman) out of a window in his penthouse office, in an attempt at homicide; the attempt would prove unsuccessful.
In Braveheart (1995), Longshanks (King Edward I) defenestrates his son's High Councillor, Philip.
In Toy Story (1995), Sheriff Woody accidentally defenestrates Buzz Lightyear.
In Hannibal (2001), Hannibal Lecter defenestrates Rinaldo Pazzi.
In Revenge of the Sith (2005), Mace Windu is defenestrated through Chancellor Palpatine's office window by Palpatine's force lightning.

Television

In the second episode of the Firefly TV series, Malcom Reynolds is thrown through a holographic window, albeit fairly harmlessly.
In the "Art Attack" episode of Dark Angel, Mr. Develia orders one of his men to defenestrate a man who failed to deliver his Norman Rockwell painting.
The two talk shows hosted by David Letterman have often included a gag where someone defenestrates objects such as televisions, watermelons, and so on.
In Cowboy Bebop, Spike Spiegel is defenestrated by Vicious after their fight in session five, Ballad of Fallen Angels The composition of the falling shots in this sequence resemble a slow-motion version of the recurring image of Eric Draven (the late Brandon Lee) being thrown out of the window of his apartment building in the movie version of The Crow.
In NCIS (TV series), Special Agent Anthony "Tony" DiNozzo lists defenestration as an area which he has experience of investigating in the episode Silver war.

Video Games

In the game Blood Money, the main character can throw targets out of windows and off of rails as methods of assassination.

Comics

In Hitman, a comic book by Garth Ennis, there is a character known as Defenestrator. His "power" consists of carrying around a plate glass window and throwing people through it.
In Frank Miller's Sin City, defenestration is used as both an escape method, (by Marv in The Hard Goodbye,) and an offensive attack move, (Manute throws Dwight McCarthy out of a window in A Dame to Kill For, and both are later blasted out of windows by Ava Lord). This was later turned on it's head when Wallace threw Manute out of a window in Hell and Back.

Magazines

The now-defunct Ziff-Davis videogame magazine Expert Gamer nicknamed its art department "Team Defenestrated" in issue 79 (January 2001). In issue 81 (March 2001), the magazine printed a letter from a reader in regards to the word. Accompanying the letter, the magazine printed a picture of a defenestration from the movie, The Toxic Avenger.

Music

In the mid 1970s, rock band Led Zeppelin would rent out entire floors of hotels, where they originated many of rock's most famous legends of drunken excess by allegedly trashing the rooms, motorcycling in the halls, and defenestrating television sets.
The word defenestration is used in the Tom Tom Club song "Booming and Zooming" as a lyrical synonym for activating an ejection seat.
"Defenestration" is the name of songs by Gundula Krause, Storyboard, and Cryptopsy.
There is a free jazz band in Houston, Texas, called The Defenestration Unit.
The popular children's song "Threw It Out the Window" inserts incongruous themes of defenestration into existing nursery rhymes ^*.
Defenstration(2001)- is the second album of New Zealand based celtic band Jacky Tar

External links

Defenestration - Humor-oriented literary magazine.
defenestrate - dictionary.com's Word of the Day for Tuesday January 25, 2000
Defenestration Building - a large art installation in San Francisco, California
The Bohemian rebels inspired some Philadelphia anarchists to publish a newspaper: the defenestrator.

Violence

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