imminent, immanent

You really want to listen to this one:

Here’s a manic mnemonic for imminent versus immanent:

If a minimally eminent nominal enemy
animates manatees and sea anemones
in a non-luminous liminal mummery
to nimbly eliminate any autonomy
mainly to dominate liquid economy
(nummular money and bonds in maturity),
if it may manifest at any minute,
then I must maintain that, albeit now imminent,
if it be only in marine environment,
any on mainland, in mansion or tenement,
cannot be menaced, for it is not immanent.

Hmm… maybe the manner of that mnemonic is too numinously animated. Let’s try it another way: what’s imminent is incoming; what’s immanent is an essential part. For etymology buffs, the min in imminent is related to the men in menacing, and the man in immanent is related to the main in remaining. It’s an eminent distinction.