Pin It

ImageSMART TALK

by Dr. Saber S. Poder




COCONSPIRATOR: Those of us on the staff of the Institute for the Linguistically Impaired who took Latin in high school feel very superior, linguistically speaking. Well, in every way, actually. But we try to treat the poorly educated majority with courtesy and respect.

We see in a flash that co-, con-, and com- are all prefixes that mean something like with, or together. And without looking it up, we can see that to conspire means literally to breathe together, or to speak/plan/scheme with someone else. But to coconspire means to scheme together with someone else. Do we actually think we could do something separately with someone else?

Whenever a scandal breaks in Washington, we must listen to coconspirator endlessly, even though they’re talking about conspirators. Coconspirator is a showoff word. Just listen to a reporter say “unindicted coconspirator.” “Look, Mommie, I’m using big, big words!”

Coconspirator, an epitome of fatuousness, is just as silly as pre-prepared.


v7i33

Pin It