Pondering a word, and creating a new one--

Repeat. 

As in, over and over and over again. It makes you wonder, though, doesn't it--was "peat" ever a word on its own? To peat again? Now, we have three-peat (sports gave us that one), and so on. Meg and I got into a fun little conversation about this word while driving around a sleeping toddler. I like chasing down word origins, and this is what the dictionary tells me:

from late Middle English: from Old French repeter, from Latin repetere, from re- ‘back’ + petere ‘seek’

Ok, so-- to seek again. The way we use repeat now has little to do with seeking; it is more often associated with doing something over again. No seeking involved. In fact, it's likely because one did not seek something that the whole shebang needs to be done again. Except, of course, in sports, I guess. 

So, that all said, a repeat, as in a television program, is a re-run. And to put a song on repeat is to play it over and over, nothing new achieved or even sought. When dinner repeats on you, as in something spicy, you are definitely seeking something, but it's usually a form of calcium carbonate. If we have to repeat a process, it's because we didn't do it right, or we just want it to work out the same way. I love to repeat a well-made pie. I don't like repeating a recipe that I messed up, but I will. I really don't like repeating myself, especially in class.

Fine. Here's my contribution to the world of words today: Unpeat. As in, to not do something, to not even look for it at all. 

I would like to posit that there are precedents. Do, redo, undo. Tie, retie, untie. So why not unpeat?

It would be fabulous if we could unpeat some things like bad relationships, poor employees, dishonest politicians, and the global reliance on fossil fuels. 

Give it a try. See if you can weave it into conversation, and see how it goes.

Have a good day,

C