Persist and resist come from a very active, and in many ways activist, Latin verb.
“She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted,” US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said after he silenced his colleague, Elizabeth Warren, when she was opposing now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions during his confirmation.
But McConnell’s words spectacularly backfired: Nevertheless, she persisted has since become a rousing, much-memed feminist slogan, fitting perfectly alongside the anti-Trump rally cry, Resist.
And persist fits etymologically alongside resist, too. They share a common root: Latin’s sistere, “to take a stand.”
Continue reading “The many “sist”-ers of persist and resist“
Mashed Radish 