Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.WHO PUT the urgency into emergency? The suffixes -ence and -ency (or -ance and -ancy) are usually interchangeable. It makes little difference whether we say brilliance or brilliancy, prurience or prurience, effulgence or effulgency. An emergency ought to be no different from any other emergence. Yet it has assumed an aspect of crisis.
Both emergence and emergency were originally used in the literal sense of anything that turns up or emerges. In the 17th century, they both also had the specific meaning of the rising of a submerged body above the surface of the water. Around the mid-18th century, they diverged. An emergence may be worth commenting on, but an emergency demands attention. A useful distinction, especially in an emergency.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments