Getting Old

I realized today, whilst leaving a comment on a friend's blog, that I'm getting old... er... older.

What's the big epiphany that goes with this realization, you ask?

Compound words. I'm realizing they confound me. Not the fancy- schmancy ones like skyscraper or rhinorrhea or butterfly or supercalifragilistic. Those ones are fine. No, it's the day-to-day, run-of-the-mill compound words that make less and less sense as I age.

For example, the word everywhere. Why? Why is this a compound word? Why hasn't it been--I don't know--reformed, like alright was to all right a few years ago, and simply made back into every where? The same goes for someone, something, anything, anyone, everyone... Well, I'm sure you get my drift.

And then there's instead, which has lost its flair and high English qualities by being run together in a mealy mouth, oatmeal sort of way. Instead. Instead. Ick. Something... No wait, some thing in my verbal DNA demands that we return to the older, more wizened (read: Shakespearean) usage of this word. As in, he will attend the meeting in my stead.

Yeah, I know. I know. I make absolutely no sense, and this is just further proof that I'm nonsensical.

P.S. And yes, I know I'm mostly talking about pronouns and adverbs and prepositions in my examples, which are probably exempted for some stupendously exceptional reason as is often found in the English language. Feh.