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September 22, 2008

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J. D.


Dotage is infrequently used in our times and probably had more use and traction during the late 19th century. It was used long before there was knowledge of senility. In fact, dotage has more of a positive definition than does senility, which infers a negative diagnosis. Dotage was probable cute because it was a characteristic of grandparents who still lived at home and who joined the family with dinner. Having a bit of memory lapse is part of life and we will continue to see more of it as life expectancies and general good health lengthens. There was a time when many humans lived to forty or fifty then died. That may still be the case in some populations now. But modern medical knowledge and treatments have allowed us to live longer lives and it is not at all uncommon in the US for people to live well into they 70s and 80s and beyond.

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  • Mighty Deep Roots is my blog (I hate that word) about language. I discuss mostly great words and why they're great, but also other different things about language that I find interesting.