Spendid!

Cherish is a lovely word, all cherry blossoms and adoration. Just so sweet (like cherries). It starts with a harsh sound, CH, and ends with a whisper, Shhh! The vowel sounds are short and neutral. Like exquisite. I savor that word! It sounds like a caress (another sweet word). I like the soft mellifluous sounds of some words. But another word I like is Splendid. And that has mostly strong harsh sounds and an abrupt ending. Abrupt is rather abrupt-sounding, too. So what is it about Spendid?! It's related to Splendor, which is a bit softer.

I'll update the etymologies later.

Check it out?

If you see this in a bookstore, take it to the checkout.
If you see this at the library, check it out!
Where did that expression come from?
Surely not the library! It must be from retail...
Check out means to pay one's bill and depart, as from a hotel or restaurant. It does not specifically refer to the library procedure of checking out a book. But that's just me, I frequent libraries more than hotels or motels. No one else would notice such an omission.
Check-out means the counter where you pay at a supermarket or other store.

There are many expressions that employ the word "check," but check it out is not in my dictionary. I'll do some further checking...

Please keep your impatience in check while I check up on this...

Let me check in with another reference book...

Check it out is not in any of my reference books, so it must be a young expression, not an old saying.

Perseverance

How do we achieve our goals? We must persevere. Or persist. Or stubbornly stick to it. We must refuse to give up. If you give up you fail. If you experience a momentary lapse, you have not failed, if you get back on the wagon. What I’m trying to say is, if you decide I’m going to do this no matter what gets in my way and no matter how long it takes, then success is guaranteed. If you get discouraged and give up after encountering any barrier at all failure is guaranteed. That is called self-sabotage and that is what ruins most of our plans. So if you make up your mind that you will achieve this goal, persevere no matter what, success is guaranteed.

The other thing is, that there are different ways to say the same thing. I may say he is infuriating, or he is stubborn. But what if I say, he is persistent, instead. That’s not quite so infuriating, is it? Persistence is good. Stubbornness is not.

Like I told my student last night you may look at someone as abnormal, weird, strange or crazy. But how about if you say instead, exceptional or outstanding or... eccentric. I had a Sociology professor who remarked that rich people are called "eccentric," but poor people are called "crazy." At the time I thought it was a wise and profound observation. I still do.


Persistence and perseverance are synonyms, like persistent and perseverant. Wait, there is no such word as "perseverant," the adjective form of perseverance. "Persevere" sounds so serious. My dictionary says that perseverance is more admirable than persistence, but I disagree. I like the word persistent because it is more neutral. It can be either good or bad. Tenacious and steadfast are other synonyms for persistent.

Tripping over words

Firstly, homophones are words that sound alike. We have discussed this before. These words are not strictly homophones, because they are not exactly alike. But could be mistaken for each other in certain situations.

Why are "inmate" and "intimate" so similar? I was reading an article and misread the word "intimates" as "inmates." It was referring to the people around you, with whom you have a close relationship. And it seemed appropriate, even though it was not talking about the friends around you with whom you share your prison. Actually, now that I think about it, maybe they are synonyms.

Invincible and invisible? If you were invisible, would you be invincible? Maybe I'm thinking about this because My son and I are reading The Hobbit.

Expiring and Aspiring? It's probably only me. I mean I tripped over the word "technological" last weekend, so in most circumstances people would not hear one of these words instead of the other, unless someone was nervous and speaking very fast and tripped over their tongue.

Cynicism and sinister!

Solvent or debt-free

I think it is interesting that solvent, which means debt-free, also means an abrasive cleanser. I guess it can be an unpleasant process to dissolve one's debts.

Dissolve means to terminate or disperse.

Resolve means to commit, to decide, to make a resolution.

Solve means to find the solution or answer to a puzzle or problem.

These words, as well as Solvent, Solution and Resolution are all related to the same LATIN root, which means to loosen.

One of my resolutions this year is to become Solvent and even Resolute, but not Dissolute.