Where do you think it came from?
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Replying to @canpacinobox
It came from Latin, where it always had the meaning "to weaken", literally "to cut the sinews/nerves" https://www.etymonline.com/word/enervate
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Replying to @arthur_affect
Another etymological tip for you: French arose as a regional dialect of Latin and has obviously developed since. English absorbed many (Norman) French words after the conquest of 1066. English did not spring from Latin.
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Replying to @canpacinobox
Okay, and I just literally showed you an etymological dictionary saying the source was a direct borrowing from Latin in Middle English And that in all three of these languages the original meaning was "cut the sinews", i.e. "to weaken or to make collapse"
3 replies 5 retweets 90 likes -
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Replying to @dickydickypand1 @canpacinobox
Yes, I am in fact googling rather than going off the top of my head, because it's the 21st century and it's amazingly easy and convenient More people should do it
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Replying to @arthur_affect @dickydickypand1
More people should “google” things of which they have little understanding or knowledge and then misrepresent them to the public? That sounds about your level, yes.
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Replying to @canpacinobox @dickydickypand1
Sure, as opposed to just insisting that they're right without evidence and making an ass of themselves
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Replying to @arthur_affect @dickydickypand1
I provided evidence that you didn’t like, so you ignored it. I forgot how triggered Americans get when anything to do with French is mentioned
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Replying to @canpacinobox @dickydickypand1
When someone is writing a book in English, for an English-speaking audience, and uses an *English word* (which is what "enervate" is), it actually doesn't matter if the word looks similar to a French word with a different meaning
3 replies 4 retweets 73 likes
You're not even actually right about that Multiple people have chimed in on this thread to point out "énerver" in French means "to annoy" or "to piss off" (as a slow drift from its original meaning of "to weaken"), not "to wake up" or "to energize"
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I don't speak French but I imagine it's a natural meaning drift from calling a conversation "enervating" to mean it's energy-draining in the sense of being boring and aggravating, much like this one is Like Colin Robinson the "energy vampire" from WWDITS
1 reply 1 retweet 25 likes - Show replies
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