Saturday, February 18, 2006

"Eutopia"

A Proposal: Could we all just agree that, in general parlance, "utopia" (Little Tommy More's coinage from Gk. ou- "not" + topos "place") has come to mean "A Really Super Nice Place," and has shed its original meaning, "Not a Place At All Because It's an Impossible Ideal," BUT that when coupled with "dystopia," as in this recent NYT book review, it should be spelled "eutopia"?

This isn't a proposal based on logic, because "utopia" has essentially been used to mean "eutopia" for almost 400 years now, thus under this proposal we'd have two words, "utopia" and "eutopia," running around meaning the same thing.

But isn't that the case as it is now anyway? "Eutopia" is a "real" word*, after all, even if seldom used. And don't "eu" and "dys" always make a lovely couple on the page?

*BTW, the top two Google results on a search of "eutopia" are (1) a site for pornographic movies, and (2) Eutopia, "a Lay Journal of Catholic Thought."

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I wholeheartedly concur; "eutopia" it is.

February 18, 2006 1:26 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home