On a recent walk at Eno River State Park, my daughter noticed a cast off plastic soda bottle floating on the otherwise pristine waters of the Eno. She asked why is it that some folks feel free to litter in this way, and that perhaps we should attach a social stigma to such misbehaviors as they do in Japan. She opined that maybe we should institute shunning as a method to control our darkest instincts.
The word “shun” is one of those words that looks misspelled. The longer you gaze upon its make-believe simplicity, the worse it looks. That can’t be right you say to yourself, the very same self that generates typos with such willful contempt that entire *languages* weep. Continue to stare at those four little letters and eventually you will be convinced that shun is a chinese word meaning “small, three-wheeled cart used in the Yuan Dynasty by members of the nobility”. Trust me, it’s inevitable.
But no, shunning is something akin to shaming, applying social rejection to penalize folks for misbehavior. The earliest use of the word was around 900 A.D, from the Middle English “shunen” or Old English “scunian”, meaning to avoid or fear.
Regardless, I plan to hale a shun to take me and the missus to the opera at the palace.
whoisfenton 