Admittedly pedantic question!
 

This I know is the height (depth?) of pedantry But--

Why when we embark do we not just debark?

Rather than the clumsy disembark :-B

Because disembark is a better word to make when you are playing Scrabble- it is worth more points.

"Debark" sounds like something I'd like to give my dog when she sees squirrels in the yard, or when she sees people walking in front of the house. She goes ballistic and has to alert us of these urgent situations.

debarking:

!krab !krab !krab

Because the more syllables a word has the better it sounds and the more important people think it is.

perfect examples: use of the word "paradigm" instead of the word "idea"

use of the word "relocate" instead of the word "move"

Well ed, it's pretty simple. Embark is a stand alone kind of word - it's not the word bark with the prefix em- attached to it. Em- isn't even a prefix in this case, so it's impossible to replace it with dis- and be correct.

It would be like saying "Why don't we replace emaciated with disaciated if we're talking about somebody who's heavy, as oppsed to extremely thin"?

Debark does sound like a lot more fun though.

According to Webster "debark" means "disembark"

So, yes, some of us debark :)

Voyager --
oh I love that 'more syllables' thing! Two of my faves are methodology instead of method (a favourite of academics) and fabrication instead of fabric (they use this one on home decorating shows all the time when they're talking about upholstery).

And I very much enjoy this board on the topic of travelization.

Travelization--I like that word and I will start using it in everyday speech. It reminds me of my favorite Bushism, "misunderestimated." I think Bush agrees with Voyager that more syllables sound better. :-))

Hmmm.... if disembark = debark, what have I been doing to my tree? Disbarking it?

Beachbun-Hopefully you've been watering it and watching it grow, not ripping it's bark off.

Beachbum... it saddens me to think what you are doing to your tree :)

Unbarking? Offbarking?

Weasel, Ooops.... the tree I'm refering to has already been cut! But I live in Oregon, where we literally have more than we know what to do with, and take care of them pretty well.

Faina, I like "offbark"! Sorry to have missed you.

Acutally there is one tree that needs offbarking from time to time, and that's the cork tree. I learned that while I was visiting Spain. :-)

Thank you, BeachBum, I feel so sophisticated now :)

If a tree was offbarked in Oregon, did it make a noise((?))

John, no, if you re-bark it immediately :)

If you were in Naples, Florida today you'd be seeing a lot of trees which were debarked on Monday by Wilma! Some of them even disembarked and may never be seen again.

It helps you to be proactive in creating a paradigm shift...

I have alwasy wondered if employees who are not disgruntled . . are guntled