person accused of a crime would be locked. Today, we use pillory
as a verb, meaning “to expose to public ridicule.”Jeremiad (noun)
A long lamentation or complaint; a bitter lament; a scolding speech or sermon.z Jeremiad, like bowdlerize in the previous lecture, is an eponym, a
word derived from someone’s name. Jeremiad is named after the
Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, who prophesied the imminent
downfall of the Kingdom of Judah. Jeremiah’s prophecy came true,
and in the book of Lamentations, Jeremiah laments the fall of the
Kingdom of Judah.z Often, jeremiad refers to a bitter lament about the state of society,
particularly one containing a prophecy of doom. For example: “Her
article was yet another jeremiad describing and lamenting the decay
of morals in today’s society.”3LOORULHVZHUHSXUSRVHO\VHWXSLQPDUNHWSODFHVRUDWFURVVURDGVWRDGGSXEOLF
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