English Tongue's Beauty Poem by Aniruddha Pathak

He thanked hosts for their hostility,
What he meant was: hospitality.
This twain of Latin roots,
What a pair, rhyming cutes! —
Hospis, as culprit prime,
Hostis, its hands in crime,
Can't help but marvel at this beauty
That embraced alien words as duty.
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Yes, can't help but marvel at this English tongue's beauty. Look at this: ‘Gratitude to… for the exceptional hostility shown to us during our recent visit', a newspaper stated when it meant ‘hospitality'. We may blame the similarity of the Latin roots. Latin Hostis means enemy; and hospis could mean either a stranger (who could turn out to be hostile) , or else a host offering hospitality, thus a two-faced word, besides spawning a host of meanings: a company of armed men (hostage coming through this) , or peaceful angels— heavenly host, a large crowd (friendly or hostile) .
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Way of words |06.06.2020|
Topic: words, English, beauty