Of Human Bondage, 1964, Laurence Harvey, Kim Novak

This 1964 film based on the novel of the same name by British author W. (William) Somerset Maugham, published in 1915, never lived up to the 1934 film version that helped make Bette Davis a well known actress. The wonderful theme song was written by English musician and composer Ron Godwin. Notice too, I said the movie was "based" on the novel, because there are some stark differences between Maugham's book and this film. Maugham's "general" story, however, is semi autobiographical, and elements of this were carried into the film script.   

Cast: American actress Kim Novak as Mildred Rogers; Philip Carey is played by actor Laurence Harvey, who was born in Lithuania to Jewish parents, but raised from a young age in South Africa, before moving to England after World War II; English actor Robert Morley as Dr. Jacobs, English actor Jack Hedley as Griffiths ("Griff"), English actor Ronald Lacey as Mathews, Irish actress Siobhán (pronounced as if, "Shi-vaughn") McKenna as Norah Nesbit.

As a boy in England, Philip Carey, who has a club foot, is badly mistreated by his male schoolmates. Philip's mild and kind manner are no match for the ruthlessness of the other boys, who even pick on Philip's dead mother! This opening scene sets the tone for what's to come, as Philip is sensitive and self conscious about his foot, and generally insecure about himself. The film shifts to Paris where Philip is being given a brutally frank assessment of his artistic abilities, or rather of his lack of artistic ability. Philip returns to England and attends medical school where he meets and becomes friends with two other male medical students, Griffiths and Mathews, and the latter wants Philip's help getting him a date with a waitress at a tearoom to whom he has taken a fancy. Philip finds himself attracted to the waitress, Mildred Rogers, and he begins to go to the tearoom regularly, until finally, he asks her to go to dinner with him. They go to a fine restaurant and Mildred asks Philip if he can afford such a dinner, and he tells her an uncle died and left him a great deal of money. Mildred presents herself as a person of means and good family, telling Philip, "My family were very well connected... I don't have to work for a living. I just don't like doin' nuthin'." While Philip knows none of this true, he can't take his eyes off of Mildred and he glows at just being near her. When Philip takes Mildred to the theater, she flirts with another man from a distance. Philip sees what is going on, but he says nothing.

We're then reminded once again of Philip's physical affliction, as his medical class is studying the case of a young boy with a club foot. The instructing doctor is anything but easy on his students and he pointedly twists the symbolic knife around in Philip, as he tells him in front of all of the other medical students that the boy's club foot is a subject Philip should know something about.

Then when Mildred is supposed to go out with Philip again, she tells him her aunt is sick and that she has to sit with her. Philip tells her he believes her, but he just feels uneasy about Mildred's story, so he waits and watches from a distance until Mildred leaves work, only to see her get into a carriage with the man she had flirted with at the theater. Philip goes to the carriage where Mildred is enraged at him. Her male companion shoves Philip to the ground, just as the boys at school had done to him years before.

Philip relates to Griffiths what happened and Griffiths tells him that this should now end the matter, that Mildred is not worth any anquish, and that she is as mean and selfish as they come, but Philip says he knows her better than Griffiths. Griffiths finally comes right out and says Mildred is a whore who just doesn't walk the streets. This angers Philip and he ends the conversation.

Philip fails his exams in medical school, and when he goes to a pub for a beer, Mildred is there with another man. Philip "sort of" tries to leave, but Mildred catches up to him. She sweet talks him, and he gives in and forgives her for lying to him. When Philip suggests they leave the pub, he then mentions that she can't just walk out on the man she was with, but she tells him, "Oh can't I? You just watch me." Away they go, as the man stands calling out to Mildred.

Philip and Mildred kiss and Philip asks her if she cares for him. Mildred answers, "Of course I like you, I just let you kiss me, haven't I?" But Philip says, "You haven't answered my question?" This brings Mildred to firmly retort, "Questions.... you're always cross examining me." They part and Philip goes and buys a ring for Mildred. When they meet again the next day, Philip tells Mildred he has a surprise for her and she gets quite excited. They go to Philip's place and he asks her if she will marry him. This brings Mildred to say, "You've really got it bad, haven't you?" When Philip replies affirmatively, Mildred asks, "Do you think we'd be happy?" And Philip says, "No, but what does it matter?" He gives Mildred the ring and she's quite taken with it. Mildred and Philip end up in bed and he tells her how he loves her and that she's changed his life. Then Mildred tells Philip she is getting married. Philip is despondent and as Mildred gets ready to leave, he asks her why he "got to kiss the bride." She says, "Well... I had to make it up to you somehow." It's all a transaction in Mildred's world. She offers to return the ring, and Philip declines, but she says, "I don't think I'd better (keep it), it wouldn't be quite good taste, would it?" She sets the ring down and leaves.

Griffiths takes Philip to a party where he meets Norah Nesbit, a writer who uses a male name as her pseudonym. A relationship develops between the two. Norah gives comfort to the troubled Philip and he returns to his medical studies with renewed interest and he passes his exams. Norah is kind and worries after Philip, much as Philip had done with Mildred. She tells Philip not to be so self conscious and sensitive about his club foot, because most people only notice it when they first meet him, but then they forget about it, as he should too.

As Philip comes home one evening, a forlorn Mildred is waiting for him. She's pregnant and she tells Philip that she didn't get married, because the man was already married, and that he left her with no money. Philip tells her she is to have the child and that he will take care of her until the baby is born. Mildred, now frightened and alone, asks Philip if he still cares for her, and his positive answer leads her to say that things will be different this time, but when Philip asks why, Mildred answers, "Because I owe it to you." It's still a transaction, not a love affair.

When Philip sees Norah, he tells her that Mildred has come back. Norah can tell it's over with Philip, but she asks why he took Mildred back, to which he answers, "I don't know... There's a saying somewhere, something about human bondage."

Mildred has the baby, a girl, but she gives her up to a lady for care, which is paid for by Philip. She convinces Philip to take her out to some nice place that evening, but she asks that Philip bring Griffiths along too, "he makes me laugh." During the evening out, Mildred spends most of her time dancing and laughing with Griffiths. The next day, Philip tells her not to humiliate him by chasing after Griff, but she says she can't help it if Griffiths plays up to her. Philip then tells her that Griff doesn't like her, that he's told him that. From her purse Mildred pulls a letter from Griff and hands it to Philip, who reads it in silence. Tempers then flare a bit and Mildred tells Philip, "I like you very much, as a friend, but you can't live on friendship, now can you?" This brings Philip to bluntly tell her that she hasn't found it too difficult living off of his "friendship," because he's been keeping her. The temperatures rise and Philip calls Mildred "a vulgar little tart," and she angrily says, "you've forced yourself on me," and then she says how revolted she's been by him. He slaps her and tells her she can go to Griffiths to see if he will keep her in such a lifestyle.

After this whole episode, Philip barely speaks to Griffiths, but one day Griff tells him Mildred is walking the streets as a prostitute. Philip finds her and learns that she has the baby with her, as she doesn't have money to pay the lady to take care of the child any longer. Philip tells her he'll get someone to take care of the baby. He takes Mildred with him to his place, but this time it's truly different. After a time, Mildred is restless and she fixes herself up to look as she once did. She plays up to Philip, but he no longer sees Mildred as in the past. He now treats Mildred much more as a patient, not as the focus of his love. When Mildred tells Philip she loves him and that she wants to make everything up to him, he says it's too late. When she asks why, he says, "Perhaps because I once loved you too much," and he removes her arms from around his neck. When she tries to lure Philip to her bed, he tells her she disgusts him. No longer bound to her manipulations, Philip's freedom angers Mildred and she tries to humiliate him by telling him how she wiped her mouth every time after kissing him, and how she laughed at him behind his back. She calls him "a cripple," because she knows how sensitive he has been about his club foot. Such things would have once weighed heavily on Philip, but not now, and the loss of control over Philip leaves Mildred furious. When Philip returns home, Mildred is gone, but she has wrecked his apartment and slashed many of his belongings.

Philip is now a legal doctor and he works in the outpatient clinic for the hospital. One day after treating a patient, Philip turns around and there is Mildred sitting waiting to be seen as a patient. She tells Philip she wants no favors, just some medicine for a throat problem. Philip examines her and tells her it would be best if she stays for a couple of days while he does some tests. Mildred says she just wants some medicine. Philip believes she doesn't want to stay because of the baby, but she tells him the baby is dead. Philip does a blood test and when he gets the results, he goes to find Mildred. He asks her if she's ever seen anyone die of syphilis. He tells her he doesn't want anything from her, he just wants to help her. Mildred calls Philip "a dirty crippled bastard," so he turns and leaves.

While the time frame in the film goes unspecified, presumably not long thereafter, as Philip sees patients, Griffiths comes in to tell him that Mildred has been admitted to the hospital and that she's dying. Philip goes to her bedside and she tells him, "You always were a gentleman. Promise me... I want a proper funeral, like a lady." Philip says, "You're not going to die. I'm going to look after you," but Mildred is gone. Philip goes to the cemetery, where a handful of people are present for Mildred's funeral. As he walks away, he sees Sally, a woman in love with Philip, and who wants to marry him.

Photo is from the 2014 Warner Archive Collection DVD

WORD HISTORY:
Bondage-This word is not related to "bound," "band" or to "bond," the noun meaning, "something that binds, or holds together," all from the Germanic origins of English, even though it certainly looks to be related to these words. It IS related to "build" and to "bower," both words also from the Germanic origins of English. "Bondage" goes back to Indo European "bhu/bu," which meant, "to dwell, to live upon or in," derived from the notion, "to be, to exist." This gave Old Germanic "buanan," meaning, "to dwell.'' The Old Germanic form gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "buan," meaning, "to dwell, to occupy a place or space." Now the problem... Old English (Anglo-Saxon) had "bonda," which meant, "(a) householder (one who dwells or occupies a space to live in), the head of a family household, husband." North Germanic had the related "boa" from the Old Germanic form, meaning, "to dwell, to make ready," and which gave Old Norse, "boandi," which meant, "dweller, free farmer (not a serf), husband." So, did Old English get "bonda" from its own form of the Old Germanic, or did it get it from Old Norse, or did Old Norse reinforce the already existent English word? Anyway, English "bonda" then became "bond," with shift in meaning away from "free farmer," to "serf, a farmer obligated as a tenant to a lord." With the Normans in charge of English justice and law in the Middle Ages, they used both their own form of French, but also Latin, in the administration of the justice system. They took the English word "bond" and Latinized it to "bondagium," to represent "the state of subservient tenancy." This then became, "bondage" by the early 1300s, and the meaning expanded more generally to "a condition of slavery," perhaps due to translations of the Bible in reference to the Hebrews in Egypt. The sadomasochistic sexual meaning "seems" to have come about, at least in more general usage, in the 20th Century.      

The Oxbow Incident & Vigilantism

This excellent black and white movie based on the book of the same name by Walter van Tilburg Clark, was released in 1943, but it is just as relevant today, as in the past, because how justice is administered is always relevant. It received an Oscar nomination for best picture. The film starred Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Mary Beth Hughes, Harry Morgan (later of "Dragnet" and "MASH" fame) and Anthony Quinn, with a couple of other well known faces in supporting roles: Jane Darwell (of "The Grapes of Wrath" fame) and Harry Davenport (of "Gone With The Wind" fame), along with some others. As was not uncommon in those times, the film was a relatively short 75 minutes in length.

If you've never seen this movie, be aware that this contains the basic story, ending and all. The crux of the story, set some 20 years after the Civil War, is about a group people from a small western town, who take out after the men they believe murdered one of the nearby ranchers to steal his cattle. Even before leaving town the calls for revenge and hanging fill the air, as reason and legal rights take a back seat to emotion and ego. When the posse captures three men, they indeed have the rancher's cattle, but the head of the group (played by Dana Andrews) tells the posse he bought the cattle, but did not get a bill of sale. This becomes the main evidence against the men, who are told the rancher was murdered. The man tells the posse they did not kill the rancher, but by this time a former Confederate army major, dressed in his old uniform, pushes for hanging the men, which goes against the order of the judge who authorized the posse. So we have a spit and polish military man who doesn't want to follow orders of a superior in an attempt to relive his past. The brooding Major had forced his adult son to come along with the posse in order to instill some "masculinity" into his sensitive son, who shows no inclination to be anything like his father (sometimes the apple falls further from the tree than the saying implies, or does it?). The Major's fear of weakness shows, when the head of the captured men whimpers a bit, and the Major tells him "you're taking it like a woman." One man (played by Harry Davenport) wholeheartedly opposes the vigilante justice being pushed by the Major, but he finds it difficult to rein in the escalating calls for the executions, although the Major's son joins him in opposing his father, as do a couple of others. One of the captured men is a Mexican (played by Anthony Quinn), which adds an element of racism and bigotry to the emotional mob, as they call him, "the Mex." The last of the three is an old man not completely in possession of his faculties, played by Francis Ford.* The three men are trapped in a nightmarish drama as the posse decides their fate, complete with one of the posse who likes to carry one of the nooses and hold it up and then make the distorted face of a man being strangled to death. Such is the further torture of the desperate men.

Instead of taking the men back to town to await the sheriff, who was at the rancher's home, the angry group, stirred by the Major and a couple of others, votes to hang the men, with only a few having the courage to oppose the action. The Major gives the head man time to write a letter to his wife and two children, which he then gives to the man who had tried so hard to save their lives, so that he can get it to the man's family. This man reads the letter and tries to get the Major to read it too, but to no avail. The Major tries to force his son to chase the horse out from under one of the doomed men, but the son can't do it. The men are hanged and then shot to make sure they are dead. The shots bring the now nearby sheriff and a deputy galloping up. The posse tells the sheriff how they got the killers and hanged them. The sheriff then tells them that the rancher is not dead and that he has the men who wounded the rancher. The sheriff hears that only seven men opposed the hangings, which brings him to say, "God better have mercy on you; you won't get any from me."

The posse returns to town and the Major heads home, followed a bit distantly by his son. The Major enters the house, but then locks the door so his son can't follow. When the son tries the door but can't get in, he yells into his father, calling him a "depraved, murderous beast," and adding, "You can't feel pity, you can't even feel guilt. You knew those men were innocent, but you were cold crazy to see them hanged and to make me watch it.... How does it feel to have begot a weakling Major? Does it make you fearful there may be some weakness in you too that other men may discover and whisper about?" The Major goes into another room and shoots himself.

The other members of the posse go to the saloon, where one of the seven who opposed the hangings (played by Henry Fonda) reads the hanged man's letter to all present. The letter mentions the man who tried to help them so much, and that, "I suppose there are some other good men here too, only they don't seem to realize what they're doing... Man just can't naturally take the law into his own hands and hang people without hurting everybody in the world... 'cause then he's not just breakin' one law, but all laws.... (Law) is everything  people have ever found out about justice... it's the very conscience of humanity ... There can't be any such thing as civilization unless people have a conscience, because if people touch God anywhere, where is it except through their conscience?"

* Francis Ford was the brother of famous movie director, John Ford.

This photo is from the DVD released in 2003 by 20th Century Fox.

WORD HISTORY:
Vigil-This word, the source of the word, "vigilante," goes back to Indo European "weg," which had the notion of "be active."^ This gave its Latin offspring "vigil," which meant "alert, watching, awake," and which produced Latin "vigilia," meaning "a watch (noun, but not the time piece)." This was passed on to Latin-based Old French as "vigile," with the meaning "watch (in the sense "stand guard")," but it also came to be used in the religious sense as "evening before a holy day." English borrowed the word from the French carried to England by the Normans, but not until the 1200s, and with the religious meaning, which has since broadened beyond religion to mean "observance of a cause, or in observance of a departed one," often with the use of lighted candles. 

^ "Vigil" is related to "vigor," a Latin-derived word borrowed by English from French, and distantly to "velocity," a word borrowed from Latin, and it is also distantly related to "waken," "wake" (verb) and "watch" (both noun and verb), all from the Germanic roots of English. 

O' Ye Of Little Or No Humor

Some people are full of themselves, where everything in life is just so serious. There are most certainly serious issues that need to be dealt with, but some issues are just more in individuals' minds, and some people are so insecure, their heightened sensitivities take offense at anything and everything. Others seem to look for issues to make themselves feel important; at least, I guess that's the reason. They wake up each day and seem to say to themselves, "Let's see, what can I be offended by today? I'll find something," and they then proceed to do just that, no matter how much of a stretch to find an issue or how silly the subject. The totally no shame conservative slant of Fox News and then the decision by MSNBC to become the no shame liberal "anti-Fox News," shows some of the silliness of political issues scrounged up, just to have something to bash the other side with, and to keep their respective "faithful" watching. I watch neither.

I suppose all of us have had our days where we get testy or peeved, or hurt over some fun directed our way; fun never meant to do us harm. Illness, a personal or family crisis, or some other issue may make us hyper sensitive at times, but we're all entitled to our bad days. Then there are those who seem to make a profession out of being offended. They are offended so often, they really seem to have forgotten the object of trying to persuade others to their side of any given issue, since they seem to get a "lift" from being offended, not from winning an argument. No, their whole purpose in life seems to center around being offended and some have the practice down to an art form. I have acquaintances who are VERY serious about everything. To the one, life is very serious. To the other, he tends to see racism and bigotry in everything. He's so obsessed with racism, he fails to realize how some of his accusations against others are downright racist. It seems to me, he's stuck in the 1960s and 1970s, still clinging to the bitterness of those times, and refusing to acknowledge any of the progress since those days. He's virtually humorless. Tell him just about ANY joke or story, and he's apt to find some racist intention in it. He's even offended by shows or articles meant to point out racism and bigotry. I just can't imagine living life like that.

We all have varying degrees of sensitivity, but we really need to be able to laugh at ourselves on occasion. Comedy makes fun of all sorts of things, but mainly people, because we ARE funny in some of our actions and statements. If people whose feathers are easily ruffled get their way, comedy will be suffocated. Jokers, including myself, do cross the line at times, but I'd say most of it is unintended. Jackie Mason and Joan Rivers got into lots of trouble over the years with some of their jabbing humor, but comedy pushes the envelope and expands freedom, it doesn't contract it, like some seem to want to do.* To my overly sensitive friends, take a deep breath and think of something funny about yourself. Don't be afraid to let out a laugh, even if other people give you serious looks. Let them be the serious ones. Relax and laugh. Besides, who gives a damn what they think? Ha! Ha! Ha!

* Generally speaking, these are not always "freedom of speech" issues, a concept lost on many Americans. "Freedom of Speech" only concerns government restrictions on speech; that is, government at any level, not just federal. If you work for company "XYZ," run by Mr. SOB, if you call him "Mr. SOB" or "the SOB," he can fire you and it's all very legal, as you are not protected by the constitutional right to free speech in this case.

WORD HISTORY:
Humo(u)r-The modern meaning of this word may seem strange, seeing that it goes back to Indo European "wegw/ugw," which had the notion of "wet, moist." This gave Italic/Latin "umere," which meant ''to be wet." This then produced Latin "umor," which meant "fluid, body fluid, moisture." This gave Old French, a heavily Latin based language, "humor" (later "humour"). The idea of "body liquids'' was used by science of long ago as a gauge of a person's "disposition, state of mind," and this meaning became attached to the word too, and it was with this meaning that it was borrowed into English during the 1300s, with the "bodily fluid' meaning being pretty much confined to science and not widespread among the general public. The idea of ''state of mind" altered in the late 1600s to the more specific "something that amuses one, makes something seem funny,'' a meaning retained into the present. English speakers must say "sense of humor" to convey the meaning of a person's ability to see things as funny. Its close relative, "humid," still retains the strong tie to the "moisture" meaning. "Humor" is the American spelling, "humour" the British spelling.

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Who Is Richest Of Them All?

I suppose everyone has heard the tale of "Snow White," made even more popular in the U.S., and indeed, the world, in the late 1930s on by the Walt Disney animated screen version, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." The story was first popularized back in the earlier 1800s by famous German storytellers Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm, also simply known as "the Brothers Grimm." The tale is about envy by Snow White's stepmother, who is so insecure, she uses a magic mirror to reassure herself by asking, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest one of all?"* She is comforted to hear the mirror answer that she is the fairest, until Snow White's beauty eventually becomes the mirror's answer, terribly shaking the stepmother who then tries to have her killed. The stepmother gets a hunter to kill the girl, but he leaves Snow White to what he believes will be certain death in the forest. Snow White comes upon a cottage owned by seven dwarfs who go digging for gold and ore every day. She tells them her story and the dwarfs ask her to keep house for them, which she accepts. The stepmother, however, asks the question of the magic mirror, only to learn that the hunter failed to kill the girl. She then sets out to accomplish the task herself, but fails three times, each time learning that Snow White has survived when the mirror tells her that Snow White is still the fairest.

While the story is about envy over beauty, it could just as easily be about envy over money. People with such insecurity can do just about anything when their egos feel threatened, including wage and benefit cuts and jobs shipped to low wage countries, where not only low wages prevail, but where there are often less environmental regulations; after all, what's a little pollution, when it comes to these insecure maniacs making more money. Just about anyone perceived to be standing in their way can become a victim. They're trying to get that answer from the magic mirror, "YOU are the richest one of all."  

* There are some variations in the English versions, as the original German couldn't be made to rhyme easily in word for word translation into English. The German is, "Spieglein, Spieglein an der Wand, wer ist die schönste im ganzen Land?"  Literally, "Little mirror, little mirror on the wall, who is the most beautiful in the entire land? (or, 'in all the land')." Some English versions, in order to have the words rhyme, had the stepmother use a handheld mirror and say, "Mirror, mirror in my hand, who is the fairest in all the land?" German "Wand" (interior wall, partition) is related to English "wound" (not the word for "injury," but from "wind," with a long "i"). It goes back to the time when many building materials were fashioned from branches and twigs "wound" together. German also has "Wall," but it is used only for fortification walls and earthworks and a "Mauer" (closely related to "mural"), a word German borrowed from Latin, is an exterior wall, usually including walls around a city. The famous (infamous) wall that divided Berlin was also called "die Mauer," a feminine noun; thus, "die" is the article, "the wall."

WORD HISTORY:
Enough-This word, meaning "be sufficient, be of the necessary amount," is actually a compound going back to Indo European "ko(m)," which had the idea of "with, near," and whose Old Germanic descendant was "ga/ge." The second part goes back to Indo European "hnak/hnek," which had the notion of "attain." The two gave Old Germanic the compound "ganogaz," which meant "be sufficient, be of the necessary amount." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "genog," with the same meaning. This later became "inough/ynough," before the modern version.^ Common in the other Germanic languages: German has "genug," Low German has "noog," Dutch has "genoeg," West Frisian has "genôch," Danish and Norwegian have "nok," Swedish has "nog" and Icelandic has "nóg."

^ While English is from the West Germanic branch of the Germanic languages and is closely related to German, it is even more closely related to Low German, which is natural, as the ancestral homeland of English (Anglo-Saxon) is north/northwestern Germany, an area where Low German is still spoken with some regularity, although it has been in decline for quite some time, as standard German, based more so on high dialects, has been reducing the number of Low German speakers. Anyway, the "ga/ge" prefix on Low German words is pronounced "ya," as opposed to standard German hard "g" sound. So English "ynough/inough" reflects the connection to Low German pronunciation, and you must remember, the "gh" sound was pronounced in English years ago, but it morphed into an "f" sound, while the "gh" spelling was continued. Further, dialectal English pronunciation has given English "nough," corresponding to its Low German and North Germanic relatives (see above).

2 + 2=5

I first published this in 2008, without a "Word History," which I have now added. 8-4-21 I made a small addition and also the large "2+2=5" at the bottom.

Having our beliefs tested, especially our long held beliefs, can be too much for some people; although I suppose all of us fall into this category at times. I call it "2 + 2= 5."

Randy: "Did you know that 2 + 2= 5?"

Other: "No Randy, 2 + 2= 4!"

Randy: "Nope, can't be! It equals 5!"

Other: "Look, if you have 1 +1 +1 +1, that equals four."

Randy: "I still say it's five, and that's final! That's what I believe, and I'll NEVER change!!!

Other: "But Randy, the rules of arithmetic and logic defy what you're saying."
Randy: "Oh logic, smodgic. I say the answer is five and it's not fair that the only point of view that gets talked about is the one that says it's 4, that's not fair! How can you have a free country if my point of view isn't given equal billing?"

Changing our long held beliefs can really get to us. It can be downright painful to our psyche! The older we get, the tougher it can be to change. We get set in our ways and beliefs. It gets to a point where, in reality, we don't want to know things that go contrary to our beliefs, no matter how logical or how much sense they make to others, or even to us, deep down inside. So we cling to our beliefs, like they are our teddy bear, a bit of security to our minds. But, all the while, the other point of view keeps eating at us, no matter how much we try to deny it. The thing is, will we finally come to terms with other points of view and give credit where credit is due? Or will we continue to insist that 2 + 2= 5?

Hey! Where's my teddy bear?

2 + 2 = 5

WORD HISTORY:
Plus-This word goes back to the Indo European root "ple/pel," which had the meaning "fill," which produced "pleios," which meant "many, much, abundant, full." This gave its Italic/Latin offspring "plous," which then spawned "plus," which meant "more." It was borrowed into English in the second half of the 1500s, where the meaning "more" took on the mathematical meaning "add on, in addition."