Which will be short, and may even be followed by a part two if well received :)
We've done something stupid with the Latin root "vegere."
Vegetate Etymology:
Early 17th century: from Latin vegetat- ‘enlivened,’
From the verb vegetare, from vegetus ‘active,’ from vegere ‘be active.’
Vegetate now means:
Live or spend a period of time in a dull, inactive, unchallenging way.
"if she left him there alone, he'd sit in front of the television set and vegetate"
synonyms: do nothing, relax, rest, idle, languish, laze, lounge, loll...
That is exactly backwards.
No wonder everyone thinks vegetables are boring.
I mean, they're not the most exciting thing in the world,
But I find NOT slowly starving to death to be quite satisfying,
And continuing to exist really adds to the enjoyment of exciting things.
*** goes back to vegetating ***