Carpenter’s Column: What you see is what you get

“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.’’ — Inigo Montoya, in The Princess Bride

I’ve grown increasingly uncomfortable with what I believe to be the deceptive use of the word “transparent.” For most of my life I’ve understood its optical meaning as its definition. Glass is transparent. So too are certain fabrics. See: Dance of the Seven Veils. Diaphanous is a synonym. So, too, is pellucid. Pellucid. Can’t wait to use that one.