want

Use this forum to suggest Good Words for Professor Beard.
M. Henri Day
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1141
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 8:24 am
Location: Stockholm, SVERIGE

want

Postby M. Henri Day » Fri Apr 01, 2005 7:57 am

Reflecting over the saying, variously attributed to Lord Chesterfield (1694 - 1773) and George Chapman (1559 - 1634), that
Advice is seldom welcome; and those who want it the most, always like it the
least
I realised that the above word, while familiar to us all, still retains senses probably not known to everybody who from time to time have occasion to use the English language. Indeed, the sense in which it is employed above, which seems almost to be contrary to the modern use as a synonym to «desire», seems to be that which most closely corresponds to the word's origin in Old Norse «vanta», or the putative Indo-European root. Reason enough to suggest it as a Good Word ?...

Henri
曾记否,到中流击水,浪遏飞舟?

Apoclima
Senior Lexiterian
Posts: 555
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 5:00 pm

Postby Apoclima » Fri Apr 01, 2005 3:02 pm

Good point, Henri!

"To want for nothing" isn't a Buddhist affirmation of Nirvana!

Apo
'Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination.' -Max Planck


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