Hi!
One day, a long, long time ago, my father warned me that, "If you do that again, you will be severely punished." I didn’t know what "severely" meant. After I found out, I decided that I should become acquainted with his odd vernacular. He used words that I thought he must have made up. I never heard anybody else use them. But he didn’t make them up, they were all real words. It's just that instead of speaking gibberish to his children, the man used 5 syllable words often. When he played Scrabble with us, we were not allowed to use one syllable words. That was exasperating but we did learn to speak well.
(By the way, "severe" punishment is standing in front of your father’s closet after being given this mission: "Margaret, go and get my belt." (I just spelled my own name wrong. I fixed it.) Even though I was a little girl who had trouble with the word "severe", I began to contemplate the principles of physics. The thin belts covered less surface area but they were thin enough to beget some whip type of effect. On the other hand, it was the late 60’s and he did have some mighty wide belts. They wouldn’t "snap" like the thin belts but they were bigger than either one of my thighs. Saved for the most heinous of transgressions, the belt retrieving mission taught me what the word severe was and I
never wanted to be caught off guard like that again.)
So, I studied words. Dad had me reading Nathaniel Hawthorne when I was 12. I didn’t know what sex was, I certainly didn’t get The Scarlet Letter. But I did get his logic books. I understood them. Strangely enough, the logic books did make sense. In addition to Nancy Drew, I read text books. There was a walk in closet at home and my parents kept the encyclopedia in it. I would lie on the floor with the light on and the door shut reading them. (I still read encyclopedia. I recently finished my ’88 World Book.) There were 5 other kids in my house and they were all younger than I. I HAD to hide in the closet. As a result, I found many words that I didn’t know. Actually, they are everywhere, people usually just don’t pick up on them. I am always on alert for them.
I heard Scaramouch one day in the 70’s. I was in my room listening to my new Queen album (on a record player!!!!) and I heard...."Scaramouch, Scaramouch, can you do the fandango, thunder, bolt of lightning, very very frightening...." I had to know what a Scaramouch was. Then, I had to know what a fandango was. No matter how long I hang around, I hear new words as consistently as I ever did. That leads me to believe that there are more words than I will ever hear. But, I do like them. You can take a finite number of words and coalesce them in an infinite number of ways.
They can be thoughtful, they can be cacophonous. They can reconcile pain as efficiently as they can inflict it. They have the potential to either encourage or demoralize. Books of words have moved most of the people ever to inhabit the planet to have faith in things that they have no reason to consider feasible. Even if you don’t believe in a God, you have to admit that words are pretty convincing and therefore very powerful.
So, that’s why I like words, they are really cool. You know what would be fun? If you sent me a word that most people don’t know. I will tell you if I know it or not. (Don’t worry, I am faithful to the honor system and I can‘t cross my fingers while I am typing!) I have a dictionary right here on my desk and I will let you know if I need it. We’ll all learn new words. Now, don’t go getting TECHNICAL on me. I don’t want to hear anything like, "What is a universal resource locator?" Don’t ask me stuff like that and I won’t ask you what epididymitis is.
How’s your lexicon???
Meg
One day, a long, long time ago, my father warned me that, "If you do that again, you will be severely punished." I didn’t know what "severely" meant. After I found out, I decided that I should become acquainted with his odd vernacular. He used words that I thought he must have made up. I never heard anybody else use them. But he didn’t make them up, they were all real words. It's just that instead of speaking gibberish to his children, the man used 5 syllable words often. When he played Scrabble with us, we were not allowed to use one syllable words. That was exasperating but we did learn to speak well.
(By the way, "severe" punishment is standing in front of your father’s closet after being given this mission: "Margaret, go and get my belt." (I just spelled my own name wrong. I fixed it.) Even though I was a little girl who had trouble with the word "severe", I began to contemplate the principles of physics. The thin belts covered less surface area but they were thin enough to beget some whip type of effect. On the other hand, it was the late 60’s and he did have some mighty wide belts. They wouldn’t "snap" like the thin belts but they were bigger than either one of my thighs. Saved for the most heinous of transgressions, the belt retrieving mission taught me what the word severe was and I
never wanted to be caught off guard like that again.)
So, I studied words. Dad had me reading Nathaniel Hawthorne when I was 12. I didn’t know what sex was, I certainly didn’t get The Scarlet Letter. But I did get his logic books. I understood them. Strangely enough, the logic books did make sense. In addition to Nancy Drew, I read text books. There was a walk in closet at home and my parents kept the encyclopedia in it. I would lie on the floor with the light on and the door shut reading them. (I still read encyclopedia. I recently finished my ’88 World Book.) There were 5 other kids in my house and they were all younger than I. I HAD to hide in the closet. As a result, I found many words that I didn’t know. Actually, they are everywhere, people usually just don’t pick up on them. I am always on alert for them.
I heard Scaramouch one day in the 70’s. I was in my room listening to my new Queen album (on a record player!!!!) and I heard...."Scaramouch, Scaramouch, can you do the fandango, thunder, bolt of lightning, very very frightening...." I had to know what a Scaramouch was. Then, I had to know what a fandango was. No matter how long I hang around, I hear new words as consistently as I ever did. That leads me to believe that there are more words than I will ever hear. But, I do like them. You can take a finite number of words and coalesce them in an infinite number of ways.
They can be thoughtful, they can be cacophonous. They can reconcile pain as efficiently as they can inflict it. They have the potential to either encourage or demoralize. Books of words have moved most of the people ever to inhabit the planet to have faith in things that they have no reason to consider feasible. Even if you don’t believe in a God, you have to admit that words are pretty convincing and therefore very powerful.
So, that’s why I like words, they are really cool. You know what would be fun? If you sent me a word that most people don’t know. I will tell you if I know it or not. (Don’t worry, I am faithful to the honor system and I can‘t cross my fingers while I am typing!) I have a dictionary right here on my desk and I will let you know if I need it. We’ll all learn new words. Now, don’t go getting TECHNICAL on me. I don’t want to hear anything like, "What is a universal resource locator?" Don’t ask me stuff like that and I won’t ask you what epididymitis is.
How’s your lexicon???
Meg
posted by Meg Kelso | 12:51 PM
1 Comments:
Oddly enough Meg, I am an encyclopedia reader too. I thought I was the only one. I preferred the Volume Library. It actually started my obsession with ancient cultures. Since you brought up lyrics, do you know who the pompitous of love is? By the by, you're such a sweety, I don't think anyone has ever said I was cute, thanks :o)
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