Re: Word connections - malaise and sit
| From: | Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...> |
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| Date: | Friday, May 25, 2001, 4:53 |
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Nathan Roy wrote:
> A truly happy person is simply unaware of all the misfortune that currently
> plagues human existance!
With "silly", the progression was apparently:
happy -> blessed -> innocent -> naive -> foolish
With "nice", the meaning changed dozens of times over a few decades,
apparently something like:
Foolish -> shy -> fastidious -> refined -> pleasant
> Ah... I just love interesting word histories!
Indeed. :-)
> Now you should really watch
> what (or whom) you refer to as being 'nice'.
Whenever someone claims that the original meaning of a word is the
"correct" meaning, I like to say that that is a very nice thing to say.
;-)
--
Cenedl heb iaith, cenedl heb galon
A nation without a language is a nation without a heart - Welsh proverb
ICQ: 18656696
AIM Screen-Name: NikTaylor42
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