Jim Carry describes Will Smith slapping Chris Rock as "it cast a pall".

Apart from the fact that I believe there's no excuse for violence I've refrained from commenting about the Will Smith/Chris Rock altercation.

Quite often I come across a word or word usage that I'm not familiar with and today I read a quote from Jim Carry which used the word "pall". As I didn't know the meaning of "pall" I decided to check the meaning of the word. The good thing is you can often deduce the meaning of the word from the context where the word is used. My first feeling was it cast a bad feeling over the situation.

Jim Carrey ‘sickened’ by standing ovation for Will Smith at Oscars after Chris Rock slap | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site

The word "pall" has a few meanings. One from the Macquarie dictionary is "to become insipid, distasteful, or wearisome". However, a meaning from the online Oxford dictionary, "Something regarded as enveloping a situation with an air of gloom or fear", I felt was also apt.

I've always found it's good to look up the meaning of words when you find a new word or a word is used in a way you wouldn't expect. I've often found people arguing over the meaning of a word when in fact both are right. It's just that often we assume a word has only one meaning and that is the meaning we know.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.Australian-Dictionary.com.au