Introducing...

One of the pointless ways I've found to amuse myself is to think about words. I say it's pointless but really, given my line of work, it's probably fitting that I kind of enjoy words and how they're put together and all that kind of crap. The reason I mention this is because on my train ride to (and from) work, there is a disused tunnel at the side of a hill. I know it's disused because there's a rather noticeable lack of rail going into it; and with it being on the side of a fairly steep hill, it's most unlikely that there's some sleepers and an old narrow-gauge line creeping up the 60° incline from the bushy valley below. The other clue is that on the near side of this valley there is a footing for what once was a bridge. Only not a bridge: the mystery of the old tunnel led me to the internet, where I found out a bit about it, and found out that it was, more correctly, a viaduct. Then this got me thinking about the word 'viaduct'. The first bit is easy, that's just 'via', meaning 'way' or 'by way of' but what about this 'duct' bit? Well, 'duct' is a word in its own right and I was trying to think of other words that have a form of it in them , in the hope I could deduce (!) what it meant. So on the train, I jotted down these words: induce; deduce; introduce; duct; conduct; induction; aqueduct. I thought I was very clever to think of this many. So today I checked on the Online Etymology Dictionary and found out that it comes from the latin 'ducere', meaning 'to lead'. Turns out there were a few I missed that have this link to them: reduce; transduce; produce (of course); but then there's seduce; educate; douche; and good old Duke, which is quite obvious when you think about it, because he's someone who leads. Now go and annoy someone with what you've learned today.