How will YOU celebrate?
Friday, March 4, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Not something to celebrate
Did you know that, for a long time, the word celebrate wasn't something that a lot of people, well, celebrated?
During the mid-sixteenth century, the English language underwent a shift from Middle English to Modern English, and with that came an intellectual battle called "The Inkhorn Controversy." An inkhorn was literally a horn used for holding ink, and the most learned men got just a tad carried away inventing new words (celebrate, for example). They were doing this largely to sound important, and opponents decried them.
Other words created in an attempt to get an edge above the rest? Encyclopedia. Exaggerate. Immaturity. (Too bad ironic isn't one.)
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