My Nemesis, Etymology Man

I'm going to teach you a lesson.

 Leaning forward in your chair yet?  Not so much?

I’m guessing that you didn’t hear the sentence according to it’s literal meaning.  I could, of course, tell you about the Latin roots of the words—which would be neither fun or informative for either of us, but would serve the function of demonstrating that I am in seminary studying Theology.  

If you are like most people, you don't learn words by their definitions, but rather by when they are used.  Bad news for Etymology man.  I'm pretty sure that Etymology man attends my congregation, disguised as a mild mannered PhD.

Unfortunately, we don't get to decide how people hear our words.  Even if we have the dictionary on our side. Take the word "Church".  

 Definitions of Church that people never use in their heads include:

1)  The dictionary definition of Church.

2)  The new definition of the word "Church" that Unitarians and Universalists made up and all understand among themselves and even put on the website so that everybody will understand what they mean.

Definitions of Church that people do use in their heads:

1)  Whatever they observed the word "Church" to be used to refer to.

2)  Whatever they've heard other people use the word "Church" to refer to.

For me, "Church" refers to community, connecting to what's meaningful, living with intention, and caring for the world.  For some people, not so much.  So, I'm reluctant to use the term "Church" as an exclusive label for the stuff I do, because I want the people looking to be able to find me.

Gary:  Where did you put the car keys?

Me:  In the front hall closet.

Gary:  How did these car keys end up in the laundry basket?

Me:  Yeah, by "hall closet" I meant basket where we put dirty laundry.

I want people to be able to find the keys.