OUR COMLICATED ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Somewhere in my long term memory, I stored the trivia that Eskimos have over 25 words for snow.  English is certainly not at all better, really.  If something can be said simply, it is but chance.  Take, for example, the word billet.


billet   PRONUNCIATION:(BIL-it)  verb tr., intr.:MEANING:
1. To lodge or to be quartered.
noun:
2. A civilian place (as a private home) where soldiers are lodged temporarily.
3. An official order directing someone to provide lodging for soldiers.
4. A short letter or a note.
5. A job appointment.
6. A chunk of wood, suitable for fuel.
7. A metal bar or ingot.

Truly, in my ignorance, I fail to see a connection between a job appointment and as chunk of wood suitable for fuel   Perhaps it comes from the prospective employer receiving so many applications, he compresses them all into a block to be burned up!  Well, it makes as much sense as any other!

constitution, yet another word with many meanings and one meaning which seems to have different meanings to different people today, as in The Constitution of the United States. Whatever happened to Justice Scalia's teaching the Constitution to Bachmann and friends?. If he is through with that, maybe he can teach her American History to date.

constitution [ˌkɒnstɪˈtjuːʃən]  n

1. the act of constituting or state of being constituted

2. the way in which a thing is composed; physical make-up; structure

3. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) the fundamental political principles on which a state is governed, esp when considered as embodying the rights of the subjects of that state

4. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) (often capital) (in certain countries, esp Australia and the US) a statute embodying such principles

5. a person's state of health

6. a person's disposition of mind; temperament

(definition from the Collins English Dictionary)