I have been a lifelong student of etymology: the original meaning of words. This is an endlessly fascinating subject because some words retain the sense of their original meeting but have different applications. For example, “sarcasm.”

Its original meaning is “ripping of flesh.” Today, we use language as the weapon of choice rather than teeth but there are indeed occasions when, in fact, we suggest that a statement “has teeth.”

Other words are used and abused because of ignorance. For example, “dilemma.”

The word dilemma is commonly used to describe a difficult situation that requires a difficult decision. However, the word dilemma comes from the Greek meaning “double proposition.” It simply means that there is a situation in which a choice must be made between two alternatives — neither of which may be particularly desirable.

I highly recommend John Ayto’s classic, Dictionary of Word Origins: The Histories of More Than 8,000 English-Language Words, to those who communicate frequently and need to become much more careful with the meaning of words used…and how they are used.