I love etymology, which is "the history of a linguistic form of a word shown by tracing its development since its earliest recorded occurrence in the language where it is found, by tracing its transmission from one language to another, by analyzing it into its component parts, by identifying its cognates in other languages, or by tracing it and its cognates to a common ancestral form in an ancestral language". (Whew!) Merriam-Webster's CollegiateDictionary, Eleventh Edition
I'm certain anyone who reads this posting will think, to themselves, "Here she goes again.", and will have to stifle yet another yawn. However, this is the path my brain took today when I was musing about a number of life-vignettes that are currently playing in the theatre of my mind. I find it fascinating how one incident can lead to a thought-path that would have never occurred to me even moments before.
The 'Bic-lighter' of my thoughts, today, was a phone call, to me, from the corporate headquarters of the company who makes the car we drive. I had sent an email, rife with frustration, about the closing of my car-maker's local dealership. To the credit of 'corporate', the response was quick.....less than twenty-four hours from the time I pushed 'send'. The gist of the response was less than satisfying. Basically, I was told that any closing of a dealership, selling my make of car, is totally the decision of the franchisee, and out of the hands of corporate headquarters. My personal take on this is either that I was flat-out lied to or that it is the worst business model ever constructed. It is no wonder that the maker of my car is struggling in the global economy.
This, coupled with a perfect storm of a bevy of other minor frustrations, led me to think about self-incarceration in my office, just for the day. Of course, I immediately realized the common understanding of the word incarcerate and thought, perhaps, I should look up the origin of the word before writing about my own incarceration. What I discovered, led me to a state of confusion regarding incarcerate. The root of the word comes from the Latin word carcer, which means prison. OK, I'm onboard with that. But, were we not taught, ad nauseum in school, that the prefix in means not? I need someone to explain to me why the word incarcerate does not mean 'not in prison' and, if you are in prison, why are you not 'carcerated'?
For the time being, I will be in self-imposed 'Ostrich-mode' in my office, maintaining my state of befuddlement and bafflement. Care to join me?
Ancora imparo
