Gresham's Law

‘Odious' offends, but not the nose, ‘Odorous' fragrant once was like rose. But as bad drives out good It wore a smelly shroud. For, man's whim li'le logic ever knows. A poet may have licence his own, But people a mandate have unknown. ________________________________________ Odious comes from Latin odiosus, meaning hateful, repugnant, offensive and the like. But it has nothing to do with smell and is not offensive to nose. Odorous comes from Latin odorus meaning fragrant. At first, it meant only good smell. But the bad-scented meaning eventually drove out the good (Gresham's law) . Here is a limerick ending with a couplet. _________________________________________________ Ways of words |13.07.2020| Topic: good, bad, poet, humour