Last night we watched a Victor Borge concert once again for great laughs. For you who don't know, go to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Borge] and read the "His Style" section and you might be inspired to get a copy at your local Netflicks. Be careful...he makes you actually think and gives a Dane's view of the use of English in its off the wall permutations!!
In any event, I've been thinking about overtures for a while; especially The William Tell; which happens to be cranked on my cd player at the moment for inspiration and cerebral cortex stimulation. My thoughts have been: if there is an overture, is there an underture? What exactly is a ture? Well, Dictionary.com clued me in...Middle English "overt" came from Old French "ouvrir" which we French scholars know means "to open." NOW overtures make perfect, if boring, sense.
However, most of us think that "over" means "above," "higher than," and such like. Under, on the other hand, means "below," "beneath," or "lower than." But when you throw them in front of another word they end up meaning "excessive" or "inferior," like over/under-achiever, over/under-weight, etc. On the other hand, if a person can be overbearing...realy obnoxiously trying to dominate others...why don't we using "underbearing" for those who shrink like the violets into the wallpaper?
And then there's "overwrought" meaning all worked up, agitated, knickers-in-a-twist condition. Nope...there's no "underwrought" for those of us who are Mr. Mellow and "learning to be content in whatever circumstances we are" as Paul wrote to the Philippians. Oh, and for you wordsmiths..."wrought" has its origin circa 1200-50 and is from the Middle English wroght, the metathetic variable of worht, past participle of worchen...to work. Don't you feel edified?!!
Thus endeth the lesson for the day, i.e., it's over! ;p
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