Plee-ready

Words do funny things through history.  In Rome, the people didn't mind talking about movement and maneuvering, using the word plicare.   It was an action.  The action form, verb form, was retained in the languages that derived from Latin after the Roman Empire died out.  One version of the word, in French, had quite an influence in England where the American version of English derived.  So, when the French during the early Middle Ages wanted to speak of movement and maneuvering, they didn't mind using their derived action word ployer (modern plier).  The British turned the French word into two words because speakers of English dialects heard the word differently.  In the north, Scotland, people used ploy as an action and combined it with prepositions em- and de-.  The British in the south, London and Sussex, pronounced the word a little differently, ply.   But, Londoners spoke the prestige version of English, so modern English adopted this form of the word when needing a word for maneuvering something if they meant to shape it.  Those hillbilly Scots didn't know anything, of course.  So, their usage of ploy was stripped of its action.  It was left in the language, but only as a noun.

It's strange to see words move around in the history of language.  People too often think that the language they have learned is static.  And for the most part it is - during our lifetimes.  But, history teaches that the language we speak is dynamic.  I don't know what will happen to ploy in the future.  It could be that the word will drop from the language altogether in favor of maneuver, shape, or bend.  It could be that it will be stripped of its priority status over ply and be reduced to a noun.  Then, it would compete for survival with ply.  It could be that a new pronunciation of the words will merge the two words by pronouncing them both the same. If so, the spelling might be changed to reflect that new pronunciation.  Then both words would become one, maybe plee.  And, if writing were to disappear, plee would survive in spoken form only, captured, of course, by video and holograph of people speaking it in speeches, movies, and music.

Both the current forms, ply and ploy, don't resemble the original Latin word plicare much, nor would any future derivative. But, following the history of the word makes the changes plausible and traceable.  My own life resembles this word's history so much.  I began with a certain form, but as life has happened, changes took place and for good reasons, much like the influence of the prestige of Latin on French, French on London English, less influence on Scotland, and London and Scotland on America.  My latest form doesn't resemble much the original form, I know.  But it's OK; it's to be expected; it's the natural order.  And, I am looking forward so much to the catalyst that will change both ploy and ply to plee, making my journey complete.