Low
I am in the process of tracking down easily citeable online dictionary entries for the word 'dejection' and in my searches, a couple of things have become apparent:
1. The online Oxford English Dictionary is the worst online reference book I've ever used. It's not easy navigated because they're huge on quotations and stupid entry maps (who needs them?). Also, it provides absolutely no guides to citation on the site that I can find (it's a problem when the page you're accessing is through your university library and the address for an entry, therefore, is too long to use and not valid because the dictionary is subscriber-only and thus any URL I collect would expire) and site does not have the details I need at the bottom of every page like on the Encarta dictionary or a clickable link that leads to ready citation details like dictionary.com.
2. It's possible that there is a linguistic relationship between the word 'dejection' and the colloquial expression 'to feel like shit'. Though I can't recall hearing it used that way, Encarta, the OED and dictionary.com all list 'defecation' or similar as a meaning for 'dejection' as per the original meaning of 'being cast downwards', so it is conceivable that someone may have once interpretted a declaration of dejection as feeling like Encarta's third meaning- 'excrement'- instead of 'of low spirits'; dictionary.com's first entry for 'dejection, and the idea stuck.
Or, this could be a long shot.
Either way, it's something to think about.
1. The online Oxford English Dictionary is the worst online reference book I've ever used. It's not easy navigated because they're huge on quotations and stupid entry maps (who needs them?). Also, it provides absolutely no guides to citation on the site that I can find (it's a problem when the page you're accessing is through your university library and the address for an entry, therefore, is too long to use and not valid because the dictionary is subscriber-only and thus any URL I collect would expire) and site does not have the details I need at the bottom of every page like on the Encarta dictionary or a clickable link that leads to ready citation details like dictionary.com.
2. It's possible that there is a linguistic relationship between the word 'dejection' and the colloquial expression 'to feel like shit'. Though I can't recall hearing it used that way, Encarta, the OED and dictionary.com all list 'defecation' or similar as a meaning for 'dejection' as per the original meaning of 'being cast downwards', so it is conceivable that someone may have once interpretted a declaration of dejection as feeling like Encarta's third meaning- 'excrement'- instead of 'of low spirits'; dictionary.com's first entry for 'dejection, and the idea stuck.
Or, this could be a long shot.
Either way, it's something to think about.