> > > Just look at "flammable" vs "inflammable": "inflammable" was once misunderstood to mean its
> > > opposite, and now it's common AND accepted for "inflammable" to mean "flammable." Is there anyone
> > > here that can question that this was a bad idea and should have been fought back when the misuse
> > > was first occurring?
> >
> > I've assumed in the past that "inflammable" came to be understood to mean "capable of burning" not
> > because of a reversal of meaning or a confusion with "flammable", but because both words have
> > somewhat synonymous roots. I think that Sam and many other conscientious writers in English break
> > "inflammable" into "in-" and "flammable", which indeed makes it seem that people are erroneously
> > attaching a negative prefix to a word without changing the meaning of the word to its opposite.
> >
> > My (unresearched) guess has always been that "inflammable" is, instead, to be broken into
> > "inflame" and "-able", in which case it is given the perfectly natural meaning of "able to be
> > inflamed". In that case, "inflammable" (able to be inflamed) and "flammable" (flame-capable) are
> > indeed synonyms, although "in-" has the appearance of the negative prefix, making it seem
> > that they should be antonyms. Let me emphasize that this is a guess that I've never researched,
> > and if I'm woefully mistaken, please do let me know. :-)
>
> Guess what, Iss?
> You're right.

I thought about this for a bit before you posted the confirmation that Issachar was correct. This is less unfortunate than if the word came about as I had thought, but it's still not ideal. I was wondering what should be different, and then it hit me. The word "inflame" should actually be "enflame," thus preserving the prefix "in" for negation and using the prefix "en" for what it's already used for in words like "enlarge," "ennoble," "enliven," "enshroud," "enrich," "enrapture," "enshrine," and many more. I wonder if "inflame" even *was*, at one time, "enflame," but it certainly should have been.

Then again, English is notorious for exceptions to its rules, so who am I to pick on this one?