Monday, October 24, 2011

Words I Hate

We all have words that we hate, whether rationally or irrationally ... actually, I think the reason why you hate a particular word is rational to you. It's just the rest of the world that thinks it's irrational.

For me it's "prehistoric" that really vexes me.

Google has helped me locate a definition just in case anyone is unclear about the definition of "prehistoric";

"pre·his·tor·ic/ˌprē(h)iˈstôrik/
Adjective:

Of, relating to, or denoting the period before written records.
Very old, primitive, or out of date."


Simple enough, right?

"Prehistoric" = very old/before written records.

Except that the prefix "pre" kind of implies "before history." "Pre" is what everyone adds to words when they want to imply that it was before something. But how can something be pre ... ahem! ... before history?

It can't!

Not unless that something happened to have existed before The Big Bang. So really, the only creatures that the term "prehistoric" can really apply to are the Nibblonians.

Or, alternatively, the term "prehistoric" refers to the fact that Time is in fact circular and just keeps repeating. In which case, "prehistoric" means what's about to happen in near future.

You see the confusion now?

And all because some fool decided to add a prefix to the word "historic."

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