Jarring Implicatures

Speranza

Witters infamously criticized Goethe (or Gœthe as he preferred to spell it -- he being Goethe, not Witters -- it would be odd to expect Witters to spell HIS surname Gœthe -- vide "Witters on following a rule", Routledge) for thinking there are rules for mixes of colours which are jarring.

1520s, "to make a harsh, grating sound," usually said to be echoic or imitative, but no one explains how, or of what. Figurative sense of "have an unpleasant effect on" is from 1530s; that of "cause to vibrate or shake" is from 1560s. Related: Jarred; jarring.