What’s the Hypotenuse?
I totally forgot that the word HYPOTENUSE existed until I came across it in of all places a theatre review in The New Yorker. In a review of the new off-Broadway show “Red Light Winter,” which I’d like to see, critic John Lahr calls one of the main characters “the HYPOTENUSE of the complex and compelling love triangle…”
Since I am detail-obsessed, I could not continue reading until I got past that word. What the hell is a HYPOTENUSE, I wondered briefly. Does it have anything to do with hypnosis? Or hippopotamuses? Then I looked at the word triangle again, and 10th grade Geometry class came flashing back. Now remembered HYPOTENUSE as a geometric term. But, I could not remember exactly what it meant. Perhaps, the longest side of a triangle. I don’t know.
Anyway, interesting usage of the word. Mr. Lahr’s editors must be awfully proud. Or, perhaps they don’t care since only nutjobs like me would notice it.
As soon as I got to a computer, I looked it up on dictionary.com
