SOME time ago, I caused mayhem in the world of words, and sporadic outbreaks of rioting in several rural areas, with my exclusive revelation that enervating did not mean strengthening, enlivening or bracing but quite the opposite.
I'd misused the word frequently during a long and enervating career, but had never been picked up for it, proving that most people attributed the same meaning to it as did I, ken?
It was the language that was wrong - nothing to do with me - as en-words, such as encouraging, encompassing, enfolding, enthralling, enthusiasm, entrust and the aforementioned enlivening are generally positive and not, as it were, negative.
The excuse given is that the start of enervating is just a Latin e, meaning out of, rather than en, again Latin, meaning in. So, it's out of nerve, effectively, rather than in nerve, the confusion being caused by the initial n in nervating being attributed erroneously to the e.
I trust I've cleared that up. No, didn't think so. Half-way through that explanation, I had to be revived by smelling salts myself.
After my original revelation, people followed me down the street to confess their shame at misusing the word. Frankly, they felt sheepish.
Well, prepare to start masticating grass again, folks, as I throw another word at you: "Outwith." This time, there's no question about the meaning. It's just that it isn't a word outwith Scotland.
What the bejasus? So that was why it kept being underlined by my usually unheeded automatic spellchecker. Irritated, I Googled a query: "Is outwith a word?" Answer: Naw! Or at least: No.
The first responding site, Random Idea English, said you'd "get funny looks" if you used it outwith Scotia.
You can't even find it in many standard reference works. True, it's in some online dictionaries (which point out that it's Scottish), but it's not in my Chambers's Etymological Dictionary of 1897 and, between "outwit" and "outwork", Lidl's Bargain Guide to English just has a message saying: "Move along. Nothing to see here."
Why aren't they deploying this fabulously useful word furth of these shores? Furth. There's another one. But furth I can understand. It sounds right Scottish. Outwith, on the other hand, is composed of two perfectly normal English words. Spoiler alert: "out" and "with".
It's absurd. Ah well. Without a doubt, language is a conundrum.
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