Mr. Webster, Please Explain

830 words



         I am conducting a survey. Without looking it up in the dictionary, a thesaurus, or any help from anybody, tell me what the word “spendthrift” means to you when you hear the word used or if you use it at all. I need to hear from you so I can put to rest my quizzical mind that lingers on until I get a validation from a number of minds put together.

         Here’s my dilemma: The English language is a phenomenon. It involves words that befuddle and boggle a simple mind. It also opens up a world of wonder as it reaches out across oceans and lands with the power of the pen. Today, it’s the awesome power of cyberspace that transports words in a matter of seconds. For this reason, the English language is also constantly evolving, adopting and adapting to new words and phrases culled from different languages merging into the English vocabulary. Therefore, I had better make sure that the word I use to communicate carries the message I want to convey accurately and succinctly.

         So, let me get you in on a secret of the discovery I make every day. There are so many of them, but this one stands out among the many. At our weekly Bible study last Tuesday, our subject matter was about the parable of the prodigal son. This wanton son spent all his inheritance in a matter of perhaps months that it finally brought him to his knees, to the point of finding himself eating with the pigs. This was the lowest of the low in the Jewish culture and its neighboring lands. It was a despicable situation and, he, of course, decided to head back home to a welcoming and loving father.

         Spending all his money with no concern for the next day is what I want to focus on in this exposition. It can be said that he was far from being frugal or thrifty.          

                Moving along with this line of thinking, the facilitator intentionally pointed out how this prodigal son was a spendthrift as he wantonly squandered his inheritance in nonsensical extravagance…the word jolted me and raised my brow.

         “Spendthrift?” It means extravagant spending? How did the facilitator reconcile that word with extravagant spending? Isn’t there a harmonious marriage between “spending thriftily” and being a “spendthrift?” Or, are they standing on opposite poles? Our discussion went on a tangent as we were sidetracked by this mini-parenthetical issue. The facilitator explained the meaning of “spendthrift” according to the dictionary. To my utmost disappointment, it was not what I envisioned the meaning would be. In fact, it was the exact opposite.

         Unwilling to give in but because of time constraints, I dropped the subject momentarily, though, I was determined to pursue it as soon as I had the chance.

         If logic be observed and taken into account, to me, spending wastefully is the opposite of spending thriftily. And I was not alone in our group who thought that way. Joe, Alis’ husband, then teased Alis and me for thinking this way by saying she came from Cuba and I came from the Islands, and that’s where the translation got lost.  Well, thanks a whole bunch, I’m going to get you for that!

         First thing I did when I got home was to consult Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language to find out what he says about “spendthrift.” Lo and behold, Mike, the facilitator was right. Mr. Webster says that a spendthrift is a person who spends his possessions or money extravagantly or wastefully; a prodigal.

         My argument now has switched from my facilitator to Mr. Webster because the question comes back, fearlessly and forcefully: How does wastefully extravagant reconcile with the word spendthrift?

         Mr. Webster says this word thrifty means, “practicing thrift or economical management; frugal, thriving, prosperous or successful; sparing, saving, economical; flourishing; (Ant: wasteful). From this definition, one can deduce spending thriftily is at the opposite end of spending wastefully: It is the difference between a spendthrift and a wasteful spender. No, no, no – not according to Mr. Webster.

         With that challenge, I started a survey among natural English speaking people to find out what they think when they hear the word, “spendthrift”. I started with my Connecticut Yankee husband. Without telling him what my definition is of the word, I asked him what the word meant to him. Sure enough, he had the same definition as me. Then, at work, I asked five of my officemates the same question. They all had the same meaning as my husband and I.

         Now, the question is: How did Mr. Webster reconcile the disconnect between the two words, “spend” and “thrift” to mean wastefully extravagant?

         Can spending thriftily mean spending wantonly or spending wastefully? Because, that’s what Mr. Authority told us.

         Oh, the English vocabulary…who made Mr. Webster the authority on how a word should mean? Excuse my aching brain.