Whedonesque : Comments on 19406 : How Buffy slew vampires 500 yrs ago.

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March 09 2009

How Buffy slew vampires 500 yrs ago. Following on the recent trend of vampirical history, UK's Metro reports on the discovery of a unique vampire slaying method in late Medieval Italy.

Also covered with less sensationalist headline, and fuller account by the Telegraph UK, from an original article in the magazine New Scientist.

Whedonage | General | 17:10 CET | 9 comments total | tags: slaying, vampire

Of course, I might point out that the Metro's math skills are a bit off.

Whedonage | March 09, 17:12 CET

Heh, the headline says 5,000 the article says 500.

zeitgeist | March 09, 17:15 CET

5000 years!? Bit off indeed.

Satai (with Punsch) | March 09, 17:16 CET

I read the Metro daily, and I usually hunt down for the Buffy references - There is usually one every week or two. Nerf Herder was discussed sometime last week (I think) and Eliza Dushku was mentioned around a month ago.

Something of a coincidence, I watched The Master getting slayed yesterday and this appears (they had a picture on top of the article with him and Buffy).

Jaymii | March 09, 17:29 CET

I was just about to post this link. I read it this morning - mace for a good start to my otherwise crappy day!

Shep | March 09, 18:07 CET

She slays. She slew. She has slain.
He is slain. He was slain. He has been slain.

Irregular verbs are tricky even for native speakers, and the irregular forms seem to be slowly passing away, but "slay" isn't regularized yet. Swim, swam, swum. Break, broke, broken. Smite, smote, smitten. Wreak, wreaked, wrought.
I believe the irregular verbs in English originate in Anglo-Saxon.

janef | March 09, 22:40 CET

Um, for whomever edited the title: not to be pedantic, but "slayed" is an accepted transative/past tense form of the verb "slay"-- so saith the Merriam-Webster; Websters Collegiate; and Cambridge dictionaries (and probably the OED, but I don't have an account). It was titled per the source's actual headline.

But apart from that, has there been a rash of vampire-related news lately (such as this article from the latest New Yorker)? Is this a reflection of the popularity of Twilight?

[ edited by Whedonage on 2009-03-10 00:26 ]

Whedonage | March 10, 00:17 CET

[snip mysterious double post]

[ edited by Whedonage on 2009-03-10 00:35 ]

Whedonage | March 10, 00:32 CET

More to the point, Giles said both "slayed" and "slew" are correct. And he would know.

ManEnoughToAdmitIt | March 10, 05:28 CET

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