Friday, April 04, 2008

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language Word-a-Day 2008 Calendar (Houghton Mifflin) 4/4/8: keek

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language Word-a-Day 2008 Calendar (Houghton Mifflin) 4/4/8:

keek: Scots intr.v. To peek; peep. |n. A look, especially a quick one; a peek.

Now, why would I need to borrow a word from another language that means the same thing as a word we already have, especially when the words are each short and, in fact, rhyme? I would think that using this word in speech would cause the listener to think that he misheard me, and that I had actually said peep. Perhaps the noun form means "quick peek", so maybe that's needed, but, besides in a limerick, I can't think of why you'd need this word. Rating: 1/8 marshmallow treats.
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A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood. --Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-Reliance"