Apology to a Word

This is an apology. Not an apologetic that is a reasoned defense of a view over against an opposing view, but an apology. I have a bad thing with words and with rambling overflowing with far too many words, as my correspondents find when we exchange communications. It seems to be getting worse as more and more I observe myself becoming a scratchy old man. This apology is about one of my slogan words, the word “certitude.” I have contemned certitude, which I have erroneously fenced for my use to mean something sinfully beyond the sure and certain confidence that Hebrews 11:1 calls “faith.” In lighting on “certitude” I was wanting a word to convey the sense of stubborn certainty that one is right and others are wrong to such an extent that one would require others to live by one’s certainties, in social matters, matters of religion, politics. I’ve used “certitude” to mean negatively a certainty that is set in in concrete.

It isn’t. I’m rethinking my use and definition of this decent word. Certitude is just a synonym for certainty, but I have made certitude into a four-letter word. It isn’t. This is my apology. Unconditional. No ifs, ands or buts. I apologize to the word and to friends who have watched me abuse it.