> My nitpick for the day. A couple of people on this list have tossed this > word around now. From the context, I can figure that it means "speculative", > "conjectural", "theoretical", etc... > > Try as I might, however, I can't find any evidence that this an actual word. > The dictionaries and thesauri at my disposal don't contain it and the web > keeps feeding me surgical websites dealing in and around certain human > orifices. > > What is this word and where does it come from? Enquiring minds want to know. It's an English version of the old legal term 'ex clunes', which is an intensified version of 'ex nihilo' when applied to the source of a particular line of reasoning. pe