If you’re not sure of the meaning of a word or phrase, wouldn’t you have sense enough not to use it? Not me. I recalled a phrase from my high school Spanish, and I just had to use it. I did. The Hispanic house cleaners on whom I tested it gave me blank stares, and so I knew I’d made a faux pas. (I know the meaning of those last two French words.)
Nobody likes to appear foolish, so why take the chance? We may like the feel of taking a chance, and that’s the gambler in us. Through ages of evolution the Creator has nurtured in us the instincts which at times pay off in the modern world.
We also have the upper, cortex part of the brain which glories in the reasonable human. That’s a sort of control. It can give life real meaning.
Civilization 