Dictionary Corner

flammable - \Flam"ma*ble\ 1. Capable of being easily ignited
inflammable - \In*flam"ma*ble\ 1. Capable of being easily ignited

I was led to believe that prefixes usually altered the meaning of a word: possible/impossible, kind/unkind, sane/insane. What's happened here? How do you say 'not flammable' in one word? Err... well... you could try... umm... You can't do it! The only way is to say not flammable! Surely it should be unflammable or imflammable? But no, at some point, some scholarly jobsworth decided to use the intensive prefix derived from the Latin preposition -in , rather than the much more sensible and sensical Latin negative prefix -in, which is related to the English -un and appears in such words as 'indecent' and 'inglorious'. To clarify further, the prefix actually used is of course the same prefix that appears in the word 'enflame', though that one is spelt with an 'e' and no longer in use!! Honestly, what is the point in trying to write using a language seemingly concocted by gerbils with a hangover. Hmmm, I think that's enough dictionary.com for one day...