Go-Forward-Ive

Schott's Vocab in The New York Times:

Citing a recent USA Today/Gallup poll which found that only one in four liberals would label themselves “progressive,” John McWhorter asked in an opinion column for The Times:

Why is America so unclear on what progressive means as a political position? “Progress,” it would seem, is pretty meat-and-potatoes as words go – moving ahead, we assume. Shouldn’t it be clear who is committed to moving ahead?

Part of the problem with “progressive” comes from the bastard nature of English vocabulary. We know what transgress, aggressive and progress mean. But if someone asked us, “Gress much?” we’d draw a blank. Gress, like “mit” in transmit, isn’t a word. Gress comes from Latin gradus, for “go,” and thus “progress” breaks down as “forward-go.” Or at least it did to an Ancient Roman. Latinate words’ meanings are often less immediately precise to us than those from English’s original Anglo-Saxon rootstock. If our word for progressive were something like “go-forward-ive,” Gallup pollsters would find people less ambivalent.

Read the full article here. Discuss below.