Sunday Rest: frenemy. Word Not To Use Today.

A frenemy is an enemy who is also a friend; someone with whom one maintains outwardly civil relations, while entertaining little or no liking for him or her, and very little, if any, trust.

Actually, and sadly, that must mean the word frenemy covers rather a lot of the people we know.

The trouble is that these are infinitely subtle and difficult relationships, requiring constant and delicate negotiations between honesty and social responsibility. Reducing them to single a comic contraction addresses the problem with all the finesse of a hob-nail boot.

So, frenemy: one for idiots, basically.

Word Not To Use Today: frenemy. This word is a mixture of friend and enemy, first used in about 1953. Friend comes from Old English frēond, and enemy comes from the Old French enemi, from the Latin in- meaning not, plus amīcus, which means friend.  

First recorded in 1950-55; fr(iend) + enemy