The Words You Should Know podcast. A few stolen minutes out of your day to talk words and communication. This is episode 2, and I’m already loving the feedback I’m getting from you. I appreciate how many of you have already subscribed to my podcast or reached out with questions for future episodes.
Without further ado, here’s today’s writing tip for the curious or confused:
Episode 2: “Wind” or “Wend”? (Plus the hijacking of “Went”)
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Approximate transcript:
If you’re in a crowd and you’re trying to get across the room, would you “wind” your way around the other people or would you “wend” your way around them?
How confident are you in your answer?
And let me ask another question: Have you ever wondered why the past tense of “go” is “went”? No? Well, are you at least a little bit curious now that I pose the question?
Knowing the answer to one will help you with the answer to the other.
It all goes back to a word-hijacking centuries ago, when there were two major terms one could use to denote traveling from place to place. One could “go,” or one could “wend.” “Going” was more direct; “wending” was sometimes less so, but I’ll get back to that.
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