“Are you willing to learn the deep meaning of words?” the old man asked. He gazed at me intently. The wood in the fire crackled and popped in the still night air. “ The flames cast flickering light on his white bearded face. The way the firelight reflected in his eyes made him look even more intense.
“Alright.” I replied. The man made a face as if the answer was distasteful. “Alright.” he repeated. “What do you mean, alright?” he demanded.
“I mean, yes.” I said. “Ah. And what does alright mean?” he asked. I thought I just answered that. Perhaps he is hard of hearing. “I meant, yes.” I said more loudly. “Yes. Yes. That is what YOU meant. A mediocre affirmative. But what does the word ‘alright’ mean?”
I mentally kicked myself for not noticing that it was a different question. I poked at the fire with a stick as I explained, “It could mean, yes or ok. Or if someone asks, How are you? You can say ‘alright’ as in ‘I’m ok’.”
The man stroked the length of his beard. “That is how you have always heard the word used. I am alright. Not great. Not too bad. Just alright. But that is not what the word means. Or at least not what it meant in the past.”
“In old English…” He said the words with excited expression. “…it meant, all is right! All…” He spread his arms. “….whole, entire, everything. Right…” he reached in front and closed his fist as if gripping something valuable. “…just, true, good and rightful. Not all is mediocre, or all is good enough. All is rightful. A friend asks you, ‘How is your life my friend?’ You consider, My house is warm and dry. My family is fed and happy. There is grain in my barns and horses in my stalls. My life is Alright!”
“Wow. That gives an entirely different impression. Why have I never heard it used that way before?” I asked.
“Because of language drift.” he explained. “Many people do not give attention to the meaning of words. They learn the use of words. They hear a word used and simply try to use it in the same way. Over a few generations the use of a word can drift away from the meaning of the word. Or perhaps the basic meaning is preserved yet some of the richness is lost.”
“Even the word ‘willing’ has been weakened to an adjective that signifies a kind of passive agreeableness.” He lamented. “When I asked , ‘Are you willing to learn the deep meaning of words?’ I was not asking, ‘Do you have enough patience to humor an old man?’. I was asking, ‘Do you WILL to learn?’ The word ‘willing’ was a verb. It signified an act of will with a strong, earnest desire!” he pronounced each word with intention.
“That is rich.” I marveled. “I confess, the more I listen to you, the more my interest grows.”
He smiled and leaned closer. “So I ask again, are you willing to learn the deep meaning of words?” “Yes!” I said sincerely. “I am WILLing to learn.”
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