Today's word: prescient

One of the reasons I enjoy reading the New York Times, and any publication for that matter, is the opportunity to learn a new word and its meaning. I’m in the habit of keeping a notepad next to me while reading and jotting down words I don’t understand, can’t pronounce, or have no clue how to define. I then find time to look them up and try to cleverly adapt them into my own vocabulary or for pure entertainment. By the way, very important to learn how to pronounce words correctly – I tried to pronounce a *big* word in front of a group of friends a few months ago and was laughed at for five painful minutes. I digress.

Today’s good word from the NY Times: prescient. I googled it and basically it means being able to understand or perceive the significance of an event before it occurs. The title of the NY Times article was Urgent Warning Proved Prescient regarding the bulletin sent by the National Weather Service the day before Hurricane Katrina detailing its “unprecedented strength”:

..."Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks, perhaps
longer," the alert went on.

I found it interesting that the alert (and most alerts) was written years in advance to match potential weather conditions in various areas, quickly encouraging people to stay safe, etc.

Here’s the thing. There's now this, uh, brilliant idea to launch an investigation into Hurricane Katrina and explore what went wrong with response time. Here’s a better idea: screw the investigation, go in and help the people like most Americans and others are doing, learn from the mistakes, work together NOT to make mistakes like this again, and above all, make sure future warnings of significance are taken seriously. Maybe then a happier headline will read Urgent Response Proved Prescient.