like mercury colliding…

Today’s Word of the Day at dictionary.com is incogitant. Not to be confused with incognizant or incognito, which google presented as possibilities. Incognitant is definitely a word, originating in the 17th century, though it does seem to be less popular than its cousins.

All three words have a common root, the Latin cōgitāre “to think” and the Latin negative prefix in-. it is when we add the suffix -ant “inclined to, tending to” that tweaks the meaning. Incogitant is defined as thoughtless; inconsiderate; not having the faculty of thought. While incognizant implies a sense of being unaware of something or unknowing, it is more in a passive or clueless sort of way, and incognito has to do with disguised identity, incogitant, with its tiny change in suffix -tant involves an element of willfulness. In fact, wiktionary simply defines incogitant as ignorant.

These days the streets are swarming with incogitant people. People who are not the least bit interested in knowing the truth, and worst of all, those who act on that ignorance to an extreme. Sound familiar? Maybe it’s just me. 🤔

Anyhoo…before I close this wordplay, I found one other reference while researching today’s word. A shout out to French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes’ (1596–1650) who coined the famous line, “cōgitō ergō sum” (“I think therefore I am”). Does that mean if I don’t think, I am not? Best to leave that one alone…along with the incogitant people of the world, unless of course, you engage them while incognito…just to be safe. My guess is they are incognizant that they are incogitant, precisely because they don’t care that they are either!

Here are a few Haiku then. Reminds me of another quote…”Never have a battle of wits with an unarmed person.” 😊 okay…I’m done now. Have a great weekend!

“Let them eat brioche!”
an incogitant retort
spoken from privilege

Covfefe…say what?
Incogitant tweet perhaps,
or sly like a fox?

~kat