Monday, October 10, 2011

Still keepin' on

I have been writing and editing the cookbook and resting a lot. My toe is still PINKY, which is the new swear word I use for almost everything. I have a PINKY backache today.

Language evolves from people using words that may not be the current 'right' word. An example is floundering. I still cringe to see that used in place of foundering.

A flounder is a fish. Or at least it was. Seems that the new meaning is now in the dictionary, although foundering is still preferred. So when people are overwhelmed and someone says they are floundering, I first translate that there is no fishing involved and that someone is buried in problems.

I looked up overwhelmed the other day ( my curiosity about word origins is insatiable). Turns out it come from a Scandinavian origin. Whelm means buried or covered. Thus, overwhelmed would be over-covered or over buried. Hmm, seems a little redundant but that's the usage we now have.
Happy tales to all
kathi

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