Today's Etymology Lesson

I love words. I love puns. Last night, the mascot from the Bay Bears rolled his googly eyes at me: kids eating pizza. Kids offer Ted D. Bear a piece of pizza. He shakes his head no. Kids insist. I say, he can't--he's stuffed.

Thanks. I'll be here all week. Don't forget to tip your waitress.

So, one word keeps resurfacing this week. Actually, it's just the root of a word. The Greek root of a word. Perhaps it should be my mantra.

Idio-.

Say it with me i-dee-oh. Doesn't mean what you think it does. It means "proper to one" or "peculiar." (Dictionary.com: the ultimate word authority.)

Here are some of its appearances this week:

Idiot: "Particular, skill-less agent" Or, the one of the imbecilic names my kids keep shouting at each other in the back of the car. Even when M and I are doing something phenomenally nice for them--taking them to Steak and Shake and a baseball game--name calling persists. What is their deal? Morons.

Idiopathic: "of unknown origin, particular to one." Or, the 'diagnosis' of Sam's not eating syndrome. (SNES) Idiopathic Constitutional Growth Delay happens to be one of those phrases physicians toss around that sounds like it means something, but doesn't. Shall we break it down? We have idiopathic. Constitutional--well, we could argue that the teapartiers have Idiotic Constitutional Growth delay, but that's something altogether different. Constitutional? His mettle seems above average. Growth? Well there does seem to be little of that going on. Delay? That implies that the growth will happen. Just late. Figures. I'm always late for everything.

Idioms: I do love watching kids explore language. And I LOVE it when they fall short on the idiomatic expressions. For example, Sam keeps asking if I'm grabbing his leg. It took me forever to realize that he meant pulling his leg, as in teasing him.

Idiosyncrasy: Um. Hello? In Chandler Bing parlance: Have ya MET me?

I found some other fun words prefixed with Idio: idiolatry (self-worship, inflated ego) idioticon (a dictionary or glossary of a particular idiom or sub-language) idiorepulsive (repulsed away from one's self, as in heat). Also, there were some fun idiot words: idiot pills (barbituates) idiot's delight (solitaire. Note: no mention of Bejeweled).

So, an informative morning. Let the idiocy continue.