...to begin with.
For what is trivial? What doesn't matter? How can we be sure that the horseshoe nail isn't the horseshoe nail which will change the course of history?
How can we be sure that the butterfly isn't the butterfly which will cause the hurricane which will wipe out a nation?
How can you be sure that the greeting you exchange with your neighbour won't change his view of his whole life?
Photo Jorgeroyan
How can you be sure that those jeans that have just been thrown in the washing machine don't still have the passport in the pock....
Er...excuse me. I just have to check something...
Do take care, won't you.
Spot the frippet: something trivial. The word trivial comes from the Latin triviālius, which means belonging to the public streets, common. It comes from trivium, which means a junction of three roads, or a crossroads, from tri, which is to do with three, and via, road.
I'm a bit shocked with myself right now that I have never associated trivial with public streets, 'tri' or 'via.'
ReplyDeleteI think I always assumed it came from trivia. Which I now assume also comes from trivialius.
Now there's some real trivial trivia for ya! :)
It was the same with me: someone asked me what was the tri in trivia and my immediate reaction was 'nothing, as in tribune'...until I began thinking about roads, and looked it up.
DeleteIt's sometimes quite satisfying to be wrong, isn't it.