Words

Call me whimsical, but I've been thinking about dups lately.  Like clean dup.  Open dup.  Vacuum, wash, turn, polish, and fix dup.

Example:  here's a new bathroom counter after it was fix dup

We also hear about "nothers."  As in "a whole nother world."

Then there's "rather."  There's no "to rather."  I rathered, you rathered.  It needs "would" in front of it.

And "of."  As in "I should of."  (I've even seen it written that way.)  Or "your" as in "your the one." And recently I've come across these:  "Do to a power outage" ... and "It fell threw."

Then there are times when, eliminating a nice helpful verb, a noun takes that spot.  As in "to plate something," "to gift someone," "to partner with someone."

Or there are verbs which have recently become nouns.  The "reveal" when your contractor shows you your new kitchen update.  And "disconnect."  I heard someone on the radio once ask what happened to that good word, "disconnection," but the question just sort of faded away.

Then, too, I've recently come across some wonderful words.  "In durance vile."  Doesn't that just sound absolutely right!  And there's "widdershins and deasil" (chiefly Scottish for counterclockwise and clockwise).  I also love the word "tatty"--for something frayed or shabby.

Curtains and blinds are now window treatments ... fountains and ponds are water features.

Also, is it better to refer to actresses as actors, as I so frequently hear these days?  Does that mean the word "heroes" has now replaced "heroines"?  Will we one day speak of female kings?  Female King Elizabeth II.  Can we not delineate without feeling that we are denigrating?  Can we not appreciate who people are for their differences?

Okay, I'll keep going.  I was re-reading Kipling's Kim lately and ran across "just as lief."  Ah, and here I'd always thought it was "just as leave."  When I looked it up, there was "lief" meaning "readily," "willingly."  Makes sense.

Finally, here's something I saw in Chicago through--or should I write "threw"?--the train window.  It was one of those small signs you see around and about and it read,
             No Trespassing
             Violators Will Be Prosecuted
But it occurred to me that it could conceivably mean the opposite.  Read it now:
            No trespassing violators will be prosecuted.

Ha!