Likely Word Derivation

I was taking a shower tonight and started to think about where the word "punk" came from originally and realized that the first meaning of "punk" that I can remember hearing about was literally the punk that reminds me of a piece of stick incense that was used to light cannons in battle. The punks coaled just like sticks of incense do and that hot coal was all that was needed to set off a cannon. So on naval battle ships and in land battles punks were kept lighted during battles sometimes for hours to set off cannons because matches could be blown out by the wind whereas punks usually kept going unless they got wet.

So the meaning I take from the word
"punk" likely is that today and for several hundred years now punks are mostly teenagers who on purpose or by accident through young ignorance set off dangerous situations just like the original punks who lit cannons centuries ago.

The logic of this progression seems flawless to me. However, what is obvious many times is different than one might think.


For example, I was riding my motorcycle through a golf course on a paved road when I heard a noise and the man said, "PUSSY!" At the time I thought he might have been speaking to me. But as I thought about it most motorcycle riders I know might just run a man over who spoke like that to them. When I returned home I told my wife about this and she said wisely, "He likely was talking to a golf partner and was horrified when you heard him." I thought back to the situation and then remembered how the man looked like he was going to faint when I looked at him as I passed on my motorcycle. The look on his face told me that he wasn't speaking to me and was afraid that he was in danger of my thinking he was actually talking to me.

Life is strange. Many of these chance occurrances aren't at all what they appear to be. So, for example, my story about punks could be completely accurate or it could be only a logical conjecture with no basis in fact.

In my life I like to simplify things a lot. I have noticed that the more complex a person tends to make life the more confused that person and everyone else who tries to communicate with that person gets.

So, even though simplification sometimes misses its mark, making things too complex not only confuses others but eventually confuses even the person who does that.

If you can think of a more efficient way to function than simplifying like Einstein did I'd like to hear it.