I just read Strunk and White's The Elements of Style and guess what? I learned something new. According to Strunk and White, the word "flammable" also means "inflammable." Who woulda thunk?
Apparently, both words mean the exact same thing. The prefix -in in "inflammable" is derived from the latin preposition in and also appears in the word "enflame." However, it has apparently misled people (including me up until just yesterday) into assuming that the word "inflammable" means "not flammable."
Which is why most caution and warning signs say "flammable" instead of "inflammable" to avoid confusion. Even though both words mean the same thing.
I learned a bit more about the definition at dictionary.com.
I found The Elements of Style to be extremely packed with information, but it was short and sweet at the same time. I probably won't remember everything (of course) but this little tid-bit about the common mis-usage of the word "flammable" I found really interesting.
-kp
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