So aside from being a voracious reader and general polymath I love the English language too and though I admit it has crippled me with respect to learning other languages quickly it does not mean I will stop trying.
As you may have noticed I do write poetry as the whim or muse takes me, but I also enjoy a good riddle.
This is one from the vaults and was originally destined to tease a friend of mine Marina, more colloquially know as HotForWords. She liked it so much she turned it into one of her lessons.
Bad luck now though, 'cause unless you have saved it already it has been marked private. Which suits me fine as that means no cheating :P
Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and feel free to put your guesses in the comments. I will wait for either 10 guesses or 10 days depending on which comes first before revealing the answer and the surprising truth behind the word.
Now comes a word part shrouded in mystery,
Though long time used throughout our history,
It's as common a word as petals on a breeze
Or as the autumn colours fall from the trees.
Used by all, from knaves to Kings
It truly has been a wonderful thing
It let cities be built as never before
And found its place at everyones' door.
It truly is global, all around the earth
But none so close as to our own hearth
Old as the hills and yet fresh each year
It should be so obvious, it's clear
Living without it is impossible, it's true,
Everyone uses it no matter what you do.
And even though in history it has changed
And no longer means for one who's deranged
A riddle is so apt for believe it or not
The clue is right there with one letter forgot.
So what am I then, do I have you all fooled?
What is my real name, what should I be called?
@aayushjnair, @skryabinasv, @ubg, @tanyakoval, @enaporohni, @rpnvyklywkno, @igorprokkl, @lifecell
Sorry it has taking me longer than I intended to get back to this but here is the answer seeing as no one wanted to attempt a guess.
The answer is WOOD
Preamble but true. For as long as mankind has been around there has been trees.
This was a non subtle clue highlighting it's commonality as well as it's association to trees.
A vexxing question is how many doors are there in the world but however many of them there are most of them are still probably wooden in one fashion or another.
It is also true that pretty much every principality in the world have trees growing there but even if they do not humans still find wood to build, heat and cook with.
Wood, or rather trees are renewable given the ideal conditions and given that some trees are literally 1000's of years old it just puts our short little lives into perspective.
Again I deal in true thoughts as can you really look around you right now and see nothing that is wooden?
This is for the etymologists among us who if they are well read would know of the word woodsek which is a term for madness or insanity, sometimes referred to as brainwood. This is an interesting diversion because the origins of the word wood are different in this context.
As a noun wood derives from the Old English wudu, earlier widu "tree, trees collectively, forest, grove; the substance of which trees are made,"
Whereas as an adjective it derives from the Old English wod "mad, frenzied," from Proto-Germanic woda- as well as source also of Gothic woþs "possessed, mad," Old High German wuot "mad, madness," German wut "rage, fury"
Fascinating stuff no?
This was me being cheeky and using word association which is something I enjoy playing with. The word I was trying to get you to associate with was knot, an imperfection in cut wood which is caused by dead branches falling off and the tree continues growth over it.
Take away the 'k' and you get not.
So I did not lie, did I ?
Well that's it. I hope you enjoyed it. I am quite proud of this one because even a qualified etymologist had to scratch her head a little to work this one out.
But I have another she never got to which is even more fiendish that you will either lover it or hate it.
Stay following.