A Friend in West Virginia, Part Eight

A troubling sign for me about my friend was an answer he gave when I asked him how he felt towards his mother. His answer came back, "I'd beat the f--- out of her if I could." This was sort of a red flag, especially because of how it tied in with other things he had mentioned previously about his contentious relationship with his mother. Now, I suppose all of us, at one time or another in our lives, have wanted to strangle a parent, or both parents, over some matter that seemed important at the time. Perhaps later, we saw things much differently, and perhaps even as silly, given the perspective of age. After all, as a child, going to some school event is important, and if our parents stopped us from participating, for some reason, that was likely to cause conflict and ill feeling toward the parents. Perhaps too, later, the parents may have felt they acted improperly, but they may also have seen their action as proper. I'm not saying we always look back and regret our decisions. What has caused my friend's intense, constant, rather than temporary, contentiousness with his mother, I don't know, as he is a middle aged man, and he lives close to his parents, although I have one or two suspicions, but I'll keep them for another segment.

For a little perspective, see Part Seven at this link:  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2016/08/a-friend-in-west-virginia-part-seven.html

WORD HISTORY:
Wake-I've covered other forms of this word elsewhere, but this is the noun meaning "aftermath of waves and turbulence from a ship or a boat." ^ This word "seems" to have been borrowed from close cousin Low German "wake" (likely pronounced "vahkeh") in the mid 1500s. Low German apparently borrowed it from Old Norse (another Germanic language) "vaka," a form of "vök," ^^ which meant, "a break or hole in the ice." Where Old Norse got the word is unknown, but Icelandic still has "vök," with the same meaning. The English meaning likely comes from the notion of a ship or boat "breaking or cutting through the ice," then extended to "cutting through the water," which causes waves.  

^ Also in more modern times, "air turbulence as the aftermath of an airplane;" plus the figurative sense, "aftermath of an event;" for example, "In the wake of the house fire, the city closed the street, until further notice."

^^ Old Norse is from the North Germanic branch of the Germanic languages, and it, or its most prominent descendants: Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, influenced, and was/were influenced by Low German, Frisian and English.