11.03.2009

SMITHEREENS

(noun): A multitude of bits and pieces (to smash to smithereens).
-------This word seems to be a plural noun, since the singular is all but never used. However, D. H. Lawrence proved it still performs creatively when he wrote, "The sun went bang, with smithereens of birds bursting in all directions,"
-------The fragments referred to by this word may be abstract as well as concrete: "His life was reduced to smithereens (reduzida a pó, ficou em pedaços) when his wife refused to surrender the remote control of the TV."
-----  Why not use the singular? "Who shattered my Ming vase! You clean up the mess and pick up every single smithereen!"
Source: YourDictionary