Willy-Nilly

Reading Godfrey Gauld's post on the significance of tense reminds me of the scene from Act II, scene 2 of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, in which devious Decius Brutus is trying to convince him to go to the senate so that they can publicly perforate the puissant potential potentate.

CAESAR
Decius, go tell them Caesar will not come.
DECIUS BRUTUS
Most mighty Caesar, let me know some cause,Lest I be laugh'd at when I tell them so.
CAESAR
The cause is in my will: I will not come;That is enough to satisfy the senate.

I like to point this passage out to my students because it inevitably leads to one of those satisfying moments of revelation where they understand a word they have always used in a new way. They tend to think of the word “will” as expressing a certain future. But they also understand it in the sense of a “last will and testament” or of “free will.” The cool part is when they put these definitions together and realize the implied uncertainty about the future built into our language.

Our standard form for writing daily objectives for the classroom begins with the stem “Students will…” I often reflect that this is a pretty tall order with some of my assignments.

As I was pondering a good title for this posting, I thought of “will ye, nill ye.” Can you believe I never associated this phrase with the common “willy-nilly” until I looked it up to confirm the spelling of “nill”? (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/willy-nilly ) How silly of me.

I am interested in other etymological curiosities and atrocities. Post ‘em if you’ve got ‘em.

(Note of Contrition: Please forgive the gratuitous alliteration. I confess that I am in bondage to sin and cannot free myself.)