"That capering buffoon shall not escape with impunity
though he were favoured by the whole human race . . . "
Don Quixote
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There is another word I admire from a distance and that is the word impunity.
It's best understood breaking up the syllables and their Latin origins. Im is a Latin prefix denoting the absence of and the syllable punity from the Latin punire meaning to punish. So, impunity means the absence of consequences or punishment.
Even in the appropriate setting, when someone or something is wrongly going unpunished, I always want to say "without impunity," instead of the correct "with impunity." Probably, because it would be correct to say "without punishment."
There may be a proper use of the phrase without impunity but I am certain I will never understand the proper use of this double negative. There are things I just can't wrap my mind around. Like the space/time continuum in the movie Back to the Future when they go back in time and then come forward to the present and the person that went back into the past is watching the person in the present.
There may be a proper use of the phrase without impunity but I am certain I will never understand the proper use of this double negative. There are things I just can't wrap my mind around. Like the space/time continuum in the movie Back to the Future when they go back in time and then come forward to the present and the person that went back into the past is watching the person in the present.
7 comments:
Amen!! My husband skipped a couple of seasons and said because of that he couldn't figure out what's going on - I watched every show and still have no idea. That notwithstanding, I'll keep watching until the end.
But the best part about LOST is Jack finally becoming verisimilitude.
20 points!
Btw, I could totally be using it wrong... see, I grew up in the Midwest where ACT > SAT... In fact, I never took the SAT exam; but I digress. My point is, is that my vocabulary and usage of said vocabulary is probably below par.
But I can find derivatives of functions...
Jenn -- I'm with your husband. The time travel whatever it is drives me crazy.
Excellent use of "notwithstanding." I am envious.
I'm still watching, too.
Jake: I love the word verisimilitude but have never used it because I only kind of get it. Thanks for sending me back to the dictionary. I'll give you the 20 points for trying.
"irregardless"
Francis, I got to type "notwithstanding" (used properly) in a discovery summary yesterday. I thought of you!
(@ John: people who say "irregardless" or "additionally" should be sent to live in the frozen "artic".)
Thanks for the news, Lynn. Well done. I am still waiting for the right opportunity.
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