Thursday, May 29, 2008

PEST and PESTER

I'm bored...

It's been like a week since I came home to Malaysia, and STILL I am yet to meet any friends from my not-so-distant past. I have made a few plans though, but all of them are still a long way off on the time scale. My job for the summer.. it's going to be at Freescale Semiconductors. More on that another day.. For now, I am just plain bored.. Want me to prove it? How's this for a thought that crossed my idle mind? Have a load of this..

The word PEST and PESTER

I find it pretty interesting actually. You see, under general circumstances in the English language, a verb is a root word that describes an action. Adding the suffix 'er' (or a suffix similar to it) behind this word would naturally make it a noun that describes the person/people/object that performs the action. For example:-

Verb

Relative Noun

play

player

win

winner

bind

binder

sing

singer


So, that brings us to our 2 words of interest. Ironically, PEST seems to be a noun whereas PESTER seems to be a verb. Now, one may argue that the 2 words are essentially different, and the similarity is only a coincidence, much like the words FLICK and FLICKER.

However, one look at the definitions of these words, and you'll probably think again.. and perhaps even see my point of view.
  • PEST refers to an object (generally a living creature) that is unwanted and annoying, by definition.
  • PESTER basically refers to the act of annoying a person.

Now then, don't you think it would simplify the English language by a substantial notch if these 2 words were to be switched around? This basically means the word PEST should be a verb (e.g:- "That annoying guy PESTS me from time to time on ms'N" instead of "That annoying guy PESTERS me from time to time on ms'N") Vice versa, the word PESTER should be a noun referring to anything or anyone that/who continually annoys a subject.

What do you think? Just one of the many random fruits of this idle mind...

And yeah, I'm still bored..

" I never remember feeling tired by work, though idleness exhausts me completely." - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

2 comments:

Henry Yeo said...

you so bored, is it?
wait until I come back from the 9 ball pool tour from genting then we can go for movies. I have GSC vouchers valid until 11 June. your choice.

Kuhan said...

heyyyyy
Sounds good henry! hahaha. And 'by the 11th of june' is perfect since I would be starting my internship on dat exact same date.. lol. 9 ball pool eh? Very interesting! Wanna hear more bout it too. How can I contact ya?