We have been fortunate in our many trips overseas to Japan when it comes to luggage. Many airline passengers are harried by baggage delays, and some by luggage lost. Our suitcases have always arrived on time with us on the airplanes. We have not even been harried by damaged baggage.
Harried means troubled or bothered. Holiday travelers are often harried by numerous stresses with delays and missed flights.
Harry appeared in Late Old English (900-1150 AD) as hergian, meaning to make predatory raids, ravage, or wage war. In Middle English (1150-1500) it was spelled harien. The spelling continued to evolve into its modern version, to harry, meaning to make a destructive raid on something or someone.
The older senses of harry are of an extreme violent nature, but the newer usage implies a forceful attack. Sports teams harry one another as they try to control the puck in hockey or the ball in football, basketball, or lacrosse. It is not appropriate to harry your opponent when they are attempting to hit their golf ball. Although you can harry others during a golf game by doggedly chasing them on the scoreboard or aggressively pressing during a match.
Sometimes when you desire to get people or animals moving along you harry them, attempting to force them to move by badgering them. She harried the rowdy children in the bedroom to get outside and play. When the cattle would not budge, the rancher used the dogs to harry them into the next pasture.
Synonyms of harry include harass, plague, pester, and tease.
Harass suggests resentful persecutions or burdensome demands that exhaust people. As their debt multiplied they were harassed constantly by creditors.
Plague implies a painful and persistent affliction. She has been plagued by her addictions all her life.
Pester stressed the repetition of mean-spirited attacks. The manager of the human resources department was constantly pestered with trivial complaints.
Tease means an attempt to break down resistance and provoke a reaction. The children teased the neighbour’s dog on every occasion.
Harry may imply heavy oppression or maltreatment. The parliamentary reporters constantly harried the minister with questions about the scandal.
Over time a more benign meaning of harry developed. Harry became more akin to worry and to annoy.
Worry means to create disorder and may drive one to desperation. The relief pitcher was worrying the batter by constantly pitching inside, after the batter was hit earlier in the game by the starting pitcher.
Annoy implies disturbing one’s composure or peace of mind by intrusion, interference, or petty attacks. “You are just doing that to annoy me,” she yelled at her sister.
Over the years we have been harried by flight delays in many airports and on various airlines. They would upset me to no end. Now we are much more accepting of postponements and view the situations as part of an adventurous trip. Makes for a much calmer and enjoyable journey.
Columnist John Kreutzwieser loves to research words and has an interest in the usage, origin, and relevance of words for society today. Greek and Latin form the basis of many words, with ancient Hebrew shedding light on word usage.
John would like to know if anyone has a sincere interest in a relevant word that he could possibly research for an upcoming column. If so, please send your requests to wordwisdom2021@gmail.com. Words will be selected according to relevance and research criteria. We cannot confirm that all words will be used.
