Friday, August 17, 2012
I Miss Hope - Amanda's Friend Hope, That Is
One of the sad things about Amanda's move to Berkeley is that her best friend Hope is going to UCLA. I already miss her. She is a writer and we have great discussions. A reoccurring one is the unnecessary evolution of so many English words - mainly that it is so sad to lose a perfectly good word when its meaning gets changed due to its continual incorrect usage. We chose "quotidian" the last time. Here is a word that has lost the component that makes it unique. If you are going to use it to mean mundane or boring - then just say mundane or boring. If you think it just means "every day", you will miss the point in anything written pre 2000. Because when an author said "he delivered the quotidian kiss that kept their marriage going" he was not critiquing the kiss as boring, but saying that it was required daily.
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That is a new word for me! I learn so much from reading blogs.
ReplyDeleteYou've probably seen it scribbled illegibly on a doctor's prescription for medicine that is required to be taken once a day. Thanks for the grits recipe!
ReplyDeleteI've encountered a blog with that word in its name and had to look it up. Lovely sound it has, that word. Sad it's not much in use.
ReplyDeleteIt used to be a great word, but sadly now all it means is "mundane" or "commonplace", and without the nuance of "requirement", there is no reason to use it to communicate. And it slows the reader up far too much if they have to stop and look-up the words.
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