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The Proper Amount of Whelm
Words are odd critters
Language is an odd and mysterious thing, and yet we use it constantly and can do very little without it. The volume and complexities of words can be overwhelming for writers.
Overwhelmed. Nice word. I also like the word underwhelmed. You can also be just plain whelmed. Not sure what the proper amount of whelm is. I suppose it depends on the situation.
Why shouldn’t every word also have a word for its opposite? But this is not always the reality.
One can be feckless but not feckful — that word is now archaic.
One can be ruthless but not ruthful — that word is now archaic.
One can be rueful but never rueless because that’s not even a word.
I know there are more such oddities but I can’t think of them right now.
English is so full of words because it is a hybrid of Old English, Scandanavian, French, German, Latin, and Greek languages. Which is why words spelled the same — like tough, plough, and though — have the same spelling but different pronunciations.
English also has oddities of words that seem to be related but apparently aren’t. You can egress, regress, and transgress but there is no word, "gress." Why that is, I cannot guess.
