FRIENDS AND BOOKS ARE GOOD FOR YOUR FACE #1: ROMANCE LANGUAGE EDITION

Early Sunday afternoon, I was hanging out with friends on our back patio. We were talking to each other with our faces. In talking about the bits and pieces of some of the foreign languages we know, an interesting question came up. Why do certain words that have similar meanings in Spanish and Italian come from different Latin roots? As someone who is deeply interested in etymology, I was extremely excited to talk about it. After a bit of discussion, I looked at my phone to see if there was a website with some examples. Then, almost immediately, I realized I had a book from one of my college linguistics courses specifically about this topic. I went inside, grabbed it, and gave it to my friend Amy. I enjoy when people are able to connect with each other without burying our faces in our devices. They are certainly useful, but it was incredibly fulfilling to be able to have that experience.