I looked up the word “utopia” in my Webster’s 8th Collegiate dictionary last night. The root of the word is related to “topic” or “place”. I thought that the prefix meant “good”, as in “eugenics”, etc. That is not the case. The prefix “u” is Greek for “not”, which makes the translation of utopia “no place,” which I got a kick out of. Also, let’s not forget XTC’s album “Nonsuch”, which refers to the plans for a beautiful castle that was never built.

Cynicism: it’s baked into the language.

UPDATE: As passerby noted, I was error about Nonsuch. I was perhaps mangling a memory I had of Andy Partridge talking about it. Rock stars and their damned lies.