@GGreenwald explains why Privacy #Pricks Us so Deeply, in a #TEDtalk @TEDtalks

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The word “Pricks” is built on ancient words that mean "to Pierce with a Sharp Point, place a Dot or Mark upon, Sting, cause a Goading Sensation (like when St. Paul is urged not to #KickAgainstThePricks in Acts 9:5 ... also used in some translations of 2 Corinthians 12:7)."

 #Prick #Pricked #Pricking #Pinprick #Pricket #Prickle #Prickly #Pricklouse (bad tailor) #PrickUpYourEars (like a fox called to attention) #PrickMeDainty (old term for one who is affectedly finical) 

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What also seemed 'of note' on Etymonline's entry for the word:

Figurative sense of "a goad" (to the affections, the conscience, etc.) was in Middle English. The meaning "pointed weapon, dagger" is attested from 1550s. From the Old English sense of "dot or small mark made in writing" came the Middle English use, in music, "mark indicating pitch" (compare counterpoint (n.2)); hence #PrickSong (mid-15c.) "music sung from written notes" instead of from memory or by ear.

It had many entwined extended senses in Middle English and early modern English, such as "a point marking a stage in progression," especially in #ThePrick "the highest point, apex, acme;" and from the notion of "a point in time," especially "the moment of death" (prike of deth).

I'm reminded of a neuropsychologist who aided in my recovery ... his name was Phillip, but he went by his middle-name Rick---so much so that he tried to use that name on his name-tag when he was interning in med-school. But (because there was another 'Rick' with his last-name in that hospital) they had to add his first initial.

But apparently the name-tag printer was too rushed to add the 'period, space' after the initial--and Rick was/is a fun guy, and so went along with it for as long as they'd let him--and so walked around for a while with "PRick" on his name-tag.