While writing yesterday about our dear friend Donald Trump, I used the word repercussions. It stood out, as I don’t use it very often, and I thought about it for a few moments.

Repercussion, I said to myself, isn’t that just percussion with the prefix re- before it? Percussion referring to hitting or striking, as it’s used when referring to instruments that produce sound by being struck, like drums. And re-, meaning back or again, means the word means strike back, as in if you do something negative, the object of your action might strike back in retaliation. By suing you for libel, for example.

And checking the etymology, I confirmed that I was right: it was a simple thought, and a simple word, and a simple post, but it’s always nice when you figure something out for yourself!