MATTHEW W. CLEEK

This is where the story get’s really interesting. Something happens that I had never picked up on before and it is ever so applicable to our “Now what?” moments today as it was for Mary Mag 2,000 years ago.

There are so many times in life when something comes to an end and we’re not sure what’s next. We don’t have the answers. We don’t know where to go. Times when no decision is a decision in and of itself. Times when we don’t even know where to begin. “Now what?” Continue reading “Now What?”

Merriam Webster definition:

• extremely valuable or useful
• priceless

As children, we are taught to breakdown the individual parts of words and sentences. We are told that learning this will help us to be better readers, writers and communicators. We are told that developing this skill will increase our understanding. This is true, but there are exceptions – senseless variations from the otherwise logical flow of the English language. Just yesterday, while seeking to express the high worth of something to a friend,  I used the word “invaluable”. According to the dictionaries I later consulted, my use of this word accurately communicated what I intended. The question is, “why?” My elementary lessons taught me that prefixes have meaning and that meaning is applied to the root word to which they are attached. Here are some examples:

• incapable = not capable
• inadequate = not adequate
• indistinguishable = not distinguishable
• intolerable = not tolerable

There are hundreds more examples. See for yourself here.

How is it, then, that invaluable (“not valuable”) means the exact opposite of its logical collective? Continue reading “Invaluable? – that’s not natural”