in my ceaseless search to explore oddities of linguistics, today i present to you:

canny.

sure, we use “uncanny” all the time. but i’ve yet to hear someone use “canny” in a sentence, myself included. i wondered why, until i remembered that i’m not quite certain what it means.

uncanny is defined as being so unexpected as to seem preternatural in origin. we often describe things that are highly coincidental as “uncanny” but that might not be the most appropriate usage.

canny itself is defined as being careful, cautious, or prudent. something that comes about due to careful planning, would be considered canny.

there you have it. try to work “canny” into a conversation in the near future. with any luck, your counterpart won’t think you’re talking about something lewd.

Posted on May 23rd, 2007 by mike
Filed under: lexicon