Sunday Rest: cancel. Word Not To Use Today.

Many glorious events have been cancelled this year including, I should imagine, The Complete Works of Shakespeare (and ditto the works of every language's premier playwrights), all the symphonies of Beethoven, every choral piece ever written, Wimbledon, several Grand Prix, and football games and weddings beyond count.

So what do we do, among this blizzard of sorrow, loss, and cancellations? 

Why, invent a new and even nastier meaning of the word cancel, of course.

To cancel someone, nowadays, is to mount an online campaign to destroy that person's career, and to make all his or her friendships and relationships dangerous and impossible because...

...well, there is usually some reason given - the victim will have committed some sin against modern mores of one kind or other - but really it's for fun. 

Yes, this kind of campaign is fun if you're eaten up by envy, bitterness and cruelty: it makes small inadequate people feel good to have power over successful and brave people.

Still, unless we wish to appear envious, bitter, and cruel, the word cancel in this sense is probably best left well alone.

Sunday Rest: cancel. This word comes from the Old French canceller, from the Latin cancellāre, to cross out. Cancellī means lattice, so the idea is to cross it out really thoroughly.