Good Friends

Mom has always been a Reduce, Reuse, Recycle person. When we were kids, she reused a plastic can with a perforated top. It's label had peeled off probably from having been washed before being reused. It was refilled with some scouring powder. Was it bought in bulk, further reducing waste?

Peggy made sure we knew what was in the can. On its side she wrote something like:

Bon Ami

French "good friend"

from Latin "bonus amicus"

That little bit of etymology introduced me to the notion that words aren't simply sounds that have had some sort a meaning assigned to them but rather have rich histories and meanings built right into them.

But not everybody has figured that out. Every day at work I hear people using words that pretty much sound like the words that they want to use. I know what they're saying but it bugs me that these highly educated people are just making sounds and not employing words that are full of meaning.

Some examples:

• When someone isn't making progress he tries a different tact.
• When something is irrelevant, it has become a mute point.
• When a skeleton of an idea needs more substance, its details get flushed out.

I grimace each time I hear those (and I hear them a lot) but I keep my mouth shut. That last one gets to me the most. I never hear anybody use the word they really want.

I'm sure somewhere in this post I have committed my own sin. But that's OK. You know what I meant.