A New Light on Forebears
The "fore" of course meant coming before, but I thought of the "bear" as carrying a load, especially after I became a parent. Thankfully, I never considered my forebears as furry animals.
Now I find the "bear" part means "one that is" and is spelled "be-ar" as a variant of "be-er".
It hasn't changed the definition in any way, or the way I understood the word. It just increases my knowledge of WHY it's spelled and pronounced that way, and that, somehow, gives me great pleasure.
Yours for happy learning of insignificant or inconsequential things.
Anna Arnett
“A New Light on Forebears”
David Arnett wrote...
Mom,
You've brought up yet another example of a word I've both spoken and spelled incorrectly for decades. For some reason I thought it was forebearers instead of forebears. I guess I assumed that our ancestors were the bearers of what went on before instead having something to do with stealing picnic baskets in Jellystone Park which forebears suggests to me..
Until a few years ago, I said (and wrote) upmost instead of utmost, assuming that I was referring to what is up the most. Sounded logical to me. Still not sure what "ut" is supposed to mean.
Your too-frequently-illiterate son,
David