I was delighted to find that today’s Word of the Day – “churlish” – contains within its etymology a bit of insight into my own character. I’ll leave it to better students of human development than me to figure out exactly what that means here and now. But as to the history, Merriam-Webster explains:
It is easy to understand how churlish has come to mean “vulgar,” “surly,” and “intractable” — if you know your English history. In Anglo-Saxon England, a churl, or ceorl, was a freeman of the lowest rank who owned and cultivated a small farm. He had certain rights and had upward mobility to rise to the rank of thane. After the Norman Conquest, however, many churls became serfs. This change in status meant losing not just social mobility but geographical mobility as well. The lowest rungs of a social system often serve as inspiration for a language’s pejoratives. And churl eventually came to be used as a term for any rude, ill-bred person.
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Hey folks, nobody ever said this was gonna be all pretty puff pieces.
You been warned.
Disclaimer: No warthogs were harmed in the production of this post. Also, they don’t even have warts. As to whether they’re churlish, you be the judge.
As one who makes his living communicating on an 8th grade reading level, I am both challenged and embarassed by our horrific vocabulary gap. I am however proud that a son-of-a-churl, like yourself, has risen to the task of casting a revealing light on my hebetudinous nature, prompting me to once again “look it up”… now, remembering new words gathered in such a revelatory way at this age is becomining more and more an Augean task. Hope you are well my friend!