100 WORDS

Maybe You Thought I’d Follow the Other Sheep.

Thrifty Words 100 #12: Fiat

A fiat is a decree by an authoritarian person or organization. It’s important to consider the word itself. It’s Latin — “authoritative sanction,” from Latin fiat “let it be done,” third-person singular present subjunctive of fieri “done, become, come into existence” (from the Proto Indo European root bheue, “to be, exist, grow”), used as passive of facere* “to make, do.”

I already knew a lot of this information from my classical education in America. I added the power of the 21st century with search engines (Swisscows) and got a lot of help from etymology online. (Am I boring you already?)

*Our source of the word, fact. An important point.

I need to make a point here. I used some words that some of my sources use, but I didn’t plagiarize. I’ve been thinking in Latin for more than half a century, and that’s a lot of practice. (I’ve gotten in trouble plenty of times for seeming to be smarter than I should be . . . but in this case, I am that smart.)

Yes, I took liberties with my title and all the inserted links. I hope this gets published anyway. At the least, I’m inciting change, right?

Speaking of which, I might write about “Poor Me, Poor You.” I do live in poverty, as do the people around me. We live well and are generally happy, so it’s a happy tale, another story incited by Jonica Bradley:

Also from Jonica Bradley, this story you’re now reading:

Please know: I never get paid for writing. I don’t mind that — I don’t like to mix money with my passions. Moot point though, nobody except Western Union knows how to send money to Panama. (Maybe Ev Williams does?) At least I’m a cheap date for my favorite Medium publications, especially for the best one, The Bad Influence.

Thank you to all the readers and writers out there! Fred Ermlich