|
After spending more than 12 years in the credit counseling industry, you would think I have a handle on the basics by now. However, I was recently humbled by the fact that I don’t know the real meaning of the word ‘save.’
The following definitions of the word ‘save’ appear in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Save, sAv, verb.
2 a: to put aside as a store or reserve: ACCUMULATE <saving money for emergencies>
b: to spend less by <save 25 percent>
I’m on board with the “store or reserve” definition. In fact, until very recently (i.e. this morning), I was convinced that saving money was the opposite of spending money. You know the old saying, “a penny saved is a penny earned”? Well, I believed it.
You can imagine my shock to read the “to spend less by” definition. I thought that advertisers were just being clever when they tell you that you can “save big money” on their products. I’m embarrassed to admit that over the past umpteen years, I have uttered the phrase “you can’t save money at a sale” at least a thousand times.
Truth be told, I still don’t really accept “to spend less” as a meaning for ‘save.’ I mean, let’s be logical, ‘save’ is the antonym for ‘spend’; how did it manage to weasel its way up to the definition? The definition for ‘spend’ certainly doesn’t include the word ‘save.’ Don’t bother, I checked.
Curiouser and curiouser.
(Author’s Note: ‘Curiouser’ is not a real word, but at least you know what it means.)
|