Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Regiment, Regulate

Both come from the same Latin root, that for "rule", and carry the same gist of meaning, to bring to order. But regiment, with its strong military connotations, has always indicated a fiercer, more thorough discipline. Whereas to regulate is to direct or govern aspects of something, to regiment is to control it entirely, to subordinate its natural course of being to an overarching, overbearing system from above.

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