CON

January 16, 2011 by Dave Rama.

The word “con” has an assortment of “con”notations in the English language.  A con may be a convict serving a prison term, or if the con has completed his sentence, he might be an ex-con.  If you cheat someone out of money, it is sometimes said that you have run a “con game” on the victim.  It may also be said that a cheater will “con” you out of money, goods, or speeding tickets.  Webster’s dictionary tells us that con means to commit to memory.  If you weigh the pros and cons of an issue, and you decide the negative factors outweigh the positive factors, you are taking a negative or con position.  Ship handlers will tell each other you have the con, which I assume means control of steering the ship

For purposes of clarity, this word is spelled c-o-n.  It should not be confused with James Caan, the actor, or with Madeleine Kahn, the actress.  Cohn is another surname that is very similar, but is frequently pronounced cone.  In the 1940’s, there was a tough Irish kid named Billy Conn who was one of the best boxers in the world.  There was a Turkish leader known as Aga Khan, and of course the Mongol conqueror, Genghis Khan and his descendants.  Anyone who has ever watched the movie, “Jungle Book” will recall the villainous Shere Khan, the Tiger.  I once had a friend named Con Sanchez whose first name was shortened from Concepcion.  I suppose there are Anglo-Saxon men who use Con as a diminutive for Conrad, and women who shortened the name Connie to Con.  These are logical reductions and nicknames that have character. 

I have expressed before the thought that English must be the zaniest of all languages with its multiple meanings of so many words like con and multiple spellings of words that sound alike.  Let us briefly consider what happens when English incorporates words from other languages, like con, into the English usage of the moment.   A common example lies in the world of food.  Restaurants may wish to disguise what a product really is by calling it a French or Spanish name.  For example, the French word escargot sounds much more delicious than snails.  In Spanish, con is a word that usually means with.  So if you order Chile Con Carne, you are expecting chili with meat.  If you order chili con frijoles, you will anticipate chili with beans.  If you ask for salsa con queso, you are going to get salsa with cheese. 

If your dentist says your teeth are suffering concavity, there will follow a period of drilling and filling because you will be with cavity.  If you hire someone to do building work, you will likely call a contractor, or someone with tractor.  The highest rank of this occupation will be general contractor, who will provide more services than a private contractor, and will likely have a larger tractor with which to work.  From this information, you can safely assume that concurrent (with current) means traveling downstream and the community of El Paso, TX can be said to be concave (with cave) due to the existence of Carlsbad Caverns.  Presumably, a constable (with stable) would be the fellow in charge of renting out horses, and a conscience (with science) will be someone working in biology or chemistry and content (with tent) will refer to someone who enjoys camping.  If you have been to a concert to hear Mr. Gill sing, you may have been conVinced. 

We could cite a good many other examples of this phenomenon, but I believe the safe course of action in this case is to conclude.

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