shelled or unshelled?

I realized today that shelled pistachios are not as satisfying as pistachios with shells.

which got me thinking...

Isn't the word "shelled" frustrating? What do you call nuts with shells? Unshelled nuts? Why are turtles "shelled" and beetles "shelled," but nuts and clams aren't considered "shelled"...until they're taken out of their shell? And what do you call a nut or clam with a shell? Unshelled isn't a word because it's too paradoxical thanks to the irony of its opposite

"Nail" as a verb works similarly in that the object is regarded as the action of doing something with the object, but it refers to the addition of the object. If you do something to something, you expect the action to be characterized by the presence or possession of features or qualities of the object rather than their absence unless specified otherwise. If someone says "I want that" even without any contraction you assume they do want that, not that they don't want that. That's just how communication works. Even nonverbal kind. So why is it that that particular word, shelled, is the action of removing the object it refers to instead of adding?

Probably because in several old languages, the action came before--or alongside--the noun to first refer only to unwanted rind around a desired core. The Proto-Germanic word skaljo, "piece cut off" and the Middle Low German skel, "to cut" or "to cleave" are a couple of probable origins, suggesting that "shell," despite the various ways its used in the modern English language, was originally used to refer specifically to things that either were or were meant to be removed.
 
I won't even go into the subject of contradictory prefixes like inflammable.

Haploid update

I revisted my Haploid preview and editted the beginning. I've also added new chapters for viewing.

http://www.scribd.com/BongaFish

A Critical Response to W.M. Ellington's Life Story

A new short story:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/78283724/A-Critical-Response-to-W-M-Ellington-s-Life-Story


Also, happy National Pastrami Day!

HAPLOID

Teenaged Jason Williams is unwillingly hauled up in a child insane asylum after a supposed act of violence on his guardian and aunt. The only person he can find confidence in is his clincal psychologist, Dawn Moir, who, unconvinced of his insanity, offers him respite from the ward. He's indifferent at the idea of going back home, but when it's revealed that Dr. Moir is part of an underground organization known as AEGIS, committed to seeking out psychically-inclined youths, it's made clear home is not where she planned to take him. Having shown no signs of mental phenomina, Jace is certain it's a huge misunderstanding. Nonetheless, he's frustrated enough at his seditious friends and family for committing him to the asylum to take the offer and leave everything behind to start anew. But, if he's not able to aid AEGIS' parapsychic research, is this all a mistake--or is there something else they want from him?

As suspicious acts of progressive violence begin to satalite AEGIS - on top of guilt and cryptic nightmares haunting his sleep - Jace has to wonder if leaving home was the right choice after all.

For a whiiile now, I've been working on a novel called Haploid, which is on the cusp of being finished. It's a sci-fi, though I'd like to think is more focused on the fi rather than the sci. It takes place in the future and involves a bit of planet-hopping, though much of the base story doesn't give off that surreal, futuristic feel. It's not Star Trek, The Jetsons nor does it have the ultamodern/medieval flavor of Starwars.

You can check out the first few chapters on Scribd:

http://www.scribd.com/BongaFish

Really, for a novel, it's relatively small, more of a novelette. It didn't start out that way in its earlier versions, but it turned out that way after I lanced a lot of the fluff. As it stands after the fluff-lancing process, it's about one-hundred and twentyish-or-so on letterpad sized copy paper, which would be approximately the equivalent of two-hundred and fourtyish-or-so leafs in a standard-sized book.

Anyways, check it out and stay tuned for upcoming short stories that I'll likely be throwing up there as well. To keep up with my work, follow me here or on Scribd (through that link up there) or even on Facebook...where my screen name is also BongaFish.

www.Facebook.com/BongaFish

I also have a YouTube account. My name there is...BongaFish! Go figure.

www.youtube.com/BongaFish