inalacrity and alacrious and alacrity and inaidable and inalimental and inalienable

I think I am just going to prance gaily through the field of "in" words in this essay, noting several that resonate today. I may even try to expand the meaning of certain words when it strikes my fancy.

Inaidable

Both the OED and the Century have the word and use the same quotation from Shakespeare to illustrate it. Inaidable means "not to be aided" (Century) or "helpless; that cannot be aided or assisted." Both quote the line from All's Well: "The congregated college have concluded/ That laboring art can never ransom nature/ From her inaidable estate" (2.1.117-119). The Riverside Shakespeare says this means her "incurable condition." But even though the word is "obsolete" (after all, the OED says so, and that means it is final, right?), why not try to expand its meaning? Let's keep the meaning of inaidable as helpless, such as we might say, "The climber had fallen into a well-nigh inaidable position," or "though the patient had rallied valiantly in the day, by night he had fallen into an inaidable coma," but let's play for higher stakes.

Why can't inaidable lose its connection with helplessness and simply mean "lack of nothing," such as "the inaidable splendor of nature"? "Thomas Moran's large landscapes, and Albert Bierstadt's arresting Western vistas, commanding as they are, are quickly laid aside by the traveler when he realizes, in the presence of El Capitan, the inaidable splendor of creation." Sometimes if people are in an inaidable situation it may mean not that they are helpless, but that they have everything they need or that they can receive no (more) help from human sources. "Though several guests offered to help in the kitchen, she insisted she was inaidable." By inventing this use of the term, we also can invent double-entendres that simply would not have been possibly with a univocal inaidable.

Inalienable

This word is in fact in the working vocabulary of millions of people. Whenever I hear the word I also hear silent strains of John Philip Sousa in the background. But I don't mean to make light of the term. I love it and the picture it suggests. Historically it was a term that emerged in property law, and meant something that cannot be transferred from its present ownership or relation. Alienable appeared for the first time in 1611 as synonymous with "vendible" or "sellable," and inalienable first appeared in 1645. However, the figurative use was more appealing to many: authors could speak about the inalienability of love, or of our bones and sinews. It is only in the 18th century that its legal definition predominated. From 1727: "Inalienableness, incapableness of being alienated, or transferred to another by Law." From 1769, "Some of the highest offices in the empire have been annexed to them inalienably." And, of course, from 1776: "We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness..." And then, from Coleridge: "This right of the individual to retain his whole natural independence..is absolutely inalienable." The words freedom and inalienable will always be friendly near-neighbors in my consciousness.

Inalimental/Inalacrity

These two words have nothing to do with each other, but they can be disposed of quickly. Something inalimental doesn't afford nourishment. From Francis Bacon: "The Making of Things Inalimentall, to become Alimentall, may be an Experiment of great Profit, for Making new Victuall." One observation that 50-something parents make when they take their kids to college is that the college food service is quite different than it was 30+ years ago. Instead of the inalimental mystery-meat world of the 1960s and 1970s is the gourmet-style, bistro-like environment of the 2005 dining halls. "Over the years her cooking skills had improved dramatically: she now provided inalimetal meals, where formerly they were also inedible."

I am sure that the preceding sentence will be met with alacrious negative comments from certain equal rights lobbying groups. Something alacrious is "brisk, lively, active." The noun is alacrity, which means "briskness, cheerful readiness, liveliness, promptitude, sprlghtliness." Shakespeare could say: "I have not that alacrity of spirit/ Nor cheere of Mind that I was wont to have." "The new employee accepted the assignment with grateful alacrity." Inalacrity, appropriately enough, is "want of alacrity." One 19th century author's quotation was abridged in the OED only to say: "Owing to...my unhappy inalacrity in dismounting." I am sure our mind can easily be filled with lots of painful images of things that might have happened to a man due to an inalacrity in dismounting a horse.

One of the qualities most desired in our day by employers is cheerful readiness to do a task. Maybe placement offices should come up with a slogan or statistic that will help their students succeed. It might be "Did you know that the leading cause of job termination is employee inalacrity?" If such offices were so bold as to do this, I bet their students would not only be much more eloquent in interviews, but would get far more jobs.

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