Words are funny critters

"Pawn", for instance. We don't want to be "treated like pawns"; it has the feel of someone else setting themselves up as queen (or bishop) over us, or worse (as much for the bishop as for the pawn) The Chess Master.

The English "pawn", of course, is related to the French word for the same chess piece, "pion". The funny thing, however, is that the French "pion" also shares the root of the English "pioneer". And, now and then, some of us might like to be pioneers.