Civil Liberties and Civic Duties

Civil Liberties and Civic Duties Civil Liberties and Civic Duties Civil Liberties and Civic Duties By Maeve Maddox When I read the following sentence the other day, I had an immediate Oh No! reaction to the use of civil: At the end, I was feeling happy because I did my civil duty, Ive always believed that voting is a civic duty. Its what we do in order to live in a civil society. Of the two, civil came into the language at an earlier date: civil 1387, from L. civilis of or proper to a citizen, alternate adj. derivation of civis townsman civic 1542, from L. civicus of a citizen, adj. derivation of civis townsman I didnt expect any of my usual references to countenance the use of civil duty, but answers.com actually illustrates the definition of civil with the expression Im objecting to. Merriam-Webster, on the other hand, gives this as one definition of civic: of or relating to a citizen, a city, citizenship, or community affairs [for example] civic duty, civic pride A Google search turns up numerous examples of civil duty in the sense of civic duty. This use can be argued, but it still sounds odd to me. Civil already has such a variety of meanings that it seems unnecessary to use it as an adjective to describe the duty of a citizen when civic has served well enough up to now. Besides, the two words are not always interchangeable. Take, for example, civic discourse and civil discourse. In the first instance we mean conversation about matters of government and the workings of the community. In the second, we mean courteous conversation without angry outbursts or name-calling. It may be reaching, but perhapsas relates to governmentcivil can be seen as referring to the broader idea of civilization and the affairs of many people, while civic relates to the more personal needs and responsibilities of the individual citizen. Here are some examples of common usage: civil civil strife, civil war civil liberties, civil rights civil society civil defense civic civic duty civic center civic leaders civic literacy civic life civic-minded NOTE on The meanings of the suffixes -il and -ic: -il ability to, capable of, suitable for -ic of or pertaining to Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Masters Degree or Master's Degree?3 Types of HeadingsHow to Write a Proposal