Do words have origins? I mean this question seriously. Obviously we can trace back a word's etymology to a certain point, and then stop. But the stopping point is not the word's origin, since presumably that word also would need to be traced back to its origin. And the further one went back, the least relevance this origin would have for us in present time. I know this runs contrary to a certain kind of "poetic" thinking, that would claim that the archaic sense of the word is the true essence or meaning of the word.

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Ed Dorn objected to the phrase "I'm outta here" because it wasn't literally true. The person saying it hasn't left yet. I get the point, but doesn't it show a lamentable insensitivity to the way language really works? The present tense can refer to present moment, to immediate future, to habitual actions, even to seemingly timeless state of affairs. "Water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen." "I am driving to Kansas tomorrow." "I teach on Tuesday an Thursday." It is wonderfully malleable in terms of its time and its "aspect.."