The world is boring

I receive A Word A Day email. Most of the time I find them interesting; every so often however, they provoke a response of more than just interest, but genuine intrigue and wonder. The most recent edition did this.

The word of the day appeared as follows:

supramundane (soo-pruh-MUN-dayn) adjective

Above or beyond this world.

[From Latin supra- (above) + mundus (world).]

Being both an English graduate and someone interested in words and etymology, my thought process went something like this: 'Hmmm, if supramundane means "beyond this world", does that mean that mundane, a word I, and I'm guessing most other people, associate with banality, can also mean "of this world"?' I decided to look it up in the nearest dictionary I had to hand. Sure enough, here is what I found:

mun·dane/mʌnˈdeɪn, ˈmʌndeɪn/ Pronunciation Key [muhn-deyn, muhn-deyn]

–adjective

1. of or pertaining to this world or earth as contrasted with heaven; worldly; earthly: mundane affairs.
2. common; ordinary; banal; unimaginative.
3. of or pertaining to the world, universe, or earth.

[Origin: 1425–75; L. mundānus, equiv. to mund(us) world + -ānus -ANE; r. late ME mondeyne, MF mondain, L as above]

So mundane does indeed mean both 'boring' and 'of this world'. Looking at the Latin that the word has formed from, it seems to me that a definition pertaining to the world came first, with the 'boring' meaning following.

'Where is he going with this?' Well, it just interested me that at some point it has become acceptable that something of this world is also boring, so much so that they now share the same word; indeed, as I said before, I'm willing to bet that the vast majority of people today, when asked for the definition of mundane, would say the one about banality, and might not even know the one about being of this world. I'm not sure I've managed to reach the crux of my point yet, so I'll attmept to get to it now.

The last thing I would describe the world as is boring. Yes, everybody gets bored from time to time, but to describe the world as boring when there is such a cornucopia offered to you in this life would just be ignorant. All you need to do is go and find it. Easier said than done in some cases, but still no reason to say that the world is boring. I'm not saying that during the formation of the word mundane over hundreds of years people consciously thought the world was boring, but the dual definition must have come about for some reason.

I'm not sure how cohesive this entry has been, as it was instigated by a stream of consciousness and slipped in and out of that throughout. But next time you're bored with (as far as you're concerned) nothing to excite you, remember the words of Bill Bailey: 'Mercury - nothing; Venus - nothing; Earth - fridge magnets, hummus, Spandau Ballet, anything you can think of'. Just remind yourself of some of the ways the world could potentially entertain you, and you can be certain you've only begun to scratch the very tip of the iceberg.