Sunday Rest: Italexit. Word Not To Use Today.

There are those, curse them, who are beginning to talk about Italexit to describe Italy's possible trajectory towards leaving the Eurozone and/or European Union.

I freely admit that Italexit as a word doesn't have all the disadvantages of Brexit (I mean, people aren't going to keep mistakenly referring to it as breakfast) or Grexit (which sounds like a dying frog), but then the word Italexit has entirely new disadvantages of its own, the chief of which are: a) Brexit was neatly constructed and even perhaps mildly witty, once, whereas Italexit, the word, is a meandering mess; and, b) at least with Grexit the dying-frog thing turned out to be prophetic.

Still, with the word Italexit there is one huge ray of hope.

And that's the beautiful word Libertalia, which some people are beginning to use, instead.

Word Not To Use Today: Italexit. This word is, obviously, a mash-up of Italy and exit. I suggest we all show some respect for two wonderful languages and use Libertalia, instead.

The name Italy is mysterious, and over the years it has referred to various bits of what we now call the country of Italy. It may come from the Oscan Viteliú, meaning the land of calves. (That's calves as in cows, not as in legs.)