I love the way etymology can be so revealing:
What they have created is a system of deterrences, and indeed a spectacle of deterrences. It says: This is the purgatory to which you will be subjected if you arrive in Australia without papers. Think again. In this respect Baxter Detention Centre out in the South Australian desert is not dissimilar to Guantanamo Bay.…As evidence that their system works, the Australian authorities point to the drop in the number of what they call “illegal arrivals” since the system came into operation. And they are right, as a deterrent, their system clearly works. Deterrence, from terrere, to terrify. Coetzee, Diary of a Bad Year (112)
Every word we speak has a history, even if we cannot or do not acknowledge that history.
