Singing Potatoes
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Monday, 26 April 2004
Linguistic gripe

"Prodigal" does not refer to someone who has gone away. It means wastefully or recklessly extravagant; giving or yielding profusely; lavish. Or, if used as a noun, means "a person who spends, or has spent, his or her money or substance with wasteful extravagance; spendthrift."

Okay? The famous "prodigal son" of the parable was a guy who went through his money as though it were water after leaving his family; the prodigality was in the spending, not the leaving.

So every time I hear of "prodigal sons returning", I grit my teeth (especially when it's applied to soldiers in Iraq — great way to honor our armed forces, by accusing them of leading dissolute lives over there!)

Posted by godfrey (link)
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Comments
I used to think it meant "bad", so I guess that's closer to the real meaning than what's normally assumed.
Posted by Ginevra on 26 Apr 2004 13:32
Well, I was never really sure what it meant so I didn't use it, but I thought it had something to do with being a prodigy. Maybe that's where others screw up too.
Posted by The Lunchbox on 26 Apr 2004 20:11
I think the problem lies in that the word really isn't heard anywhere other than that fable, and in allusions to it. Since the father made such a big deal about his son returning (and the other son grumbled that he never got parties even though he hadn't abandoned his family), I suspect most people simply assume that "prodigal" pertained to the son's absence.

Posted by Godfrey on 27 Apr 2004 06:31
At the Imperial Book Lodge there's a nifty book on word origins. I thought of you when I saw it, but was spending too much money on myself to pick it up for you! Maybe it will be there tomorrow night.
Posted by Lisa on 28 Apr 2004 08:52