¶I never appreciated the subtle but important difference between the definitions of impracticable and impractical. I can’t remember what caused me to think about it this afternoon, but the question popped into my head for some reason. So I went to the hardcover dictionary in my office and looked up both words:

¶impracticable: incapable of being performed or accomplished by the means employed or at command

¶impractical: not wise to put into or keep in practice or effect

¶The linked definitions don’t match exactly those from my physical dictionary, but they’re fairly close. If something is impossible to do, it is impracticable. If it’s possible but shouldn’t be done, it’s impractical.

¶So, for ease of remembering:

¶It’s impractical to view an impractical situation as an impracticable one.

¶Meaning, you can view an impractical situation as an impossible one, but you shouldn’t.