hayseed - 10:52 pm on Jun 15, 2004 (gmt 0)

William C. Casey, a professor of sociology at Princeton from '31-'59, based his teaching curriculum on the way that language has been based on actions/thoughts, and how current actions/thoughts are in part abstracted from a language that was based on past actions/thoughts...

A couple of his students compiled their lecture notes and wrote a book about his teachings and philosophy. It's called "The Real Real World of William C. Casey" (ISBN 0806963387).

Casey's assertion is that the closer you get to the root of the word, the closer you are to the context of the original "feel" that inspired the creation of the word, and to the "truth" of the language.

Paying close attention to the context in which words are used with respect to their roots is yet a powerful language tool that used in conjunction with your other tools may lead to surprising (or not so surprising) results.

Just some food for thought/action.