Judge Richard Posner on “Choate”

May 11, 2011

Decision by Judge Richard Posner in “Bloomfield State Bank v. United States of America,” U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit. (May 11, 2011)

“Choate, a back-formation from inchoate, is a misbegotten word, for the prefix in inchoate is intensive and not negative․ The word derives from the Latin verb inchoare ‘to hitch with; to begin.’ Yet, because it was misunderstood as being a negative (meaning ‘incomplete’), someone invented a positive form for it, namely choate (meaning ‘complete’).” Bryan Garner, A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage 152 (2d ed.1995); see also Ben Zimmer, “On Language—Choate,” N.Y. Times, Jan. 3, 2010, p. MM16. The “in” in “inchoate” is no more a negative than the “in” in “incipient” or “into” or “ingress” or “inflammable.” Imagine thinking that because “inflammable” means “catches fire,” “flammable” must mean fireproof. “Inchoate” means vague, unformed, or undeveloped. If there were a word “choate,” it would mean approximately the same thing.

Read Judge Posner’s decision here (related On Language column here).

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