Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Lovely language




I love language. My own use of English is probably not perfect(it is not my native language) but I do my best to respect the language and to use it both correct and creatively. Now and again I fail, especially when it comes to spelling, but at least I try. It annoys me to no end to see people write 'thru' instead of through, as if saving those three letters will save the economy. And let's not even start on text message writing. Text message writing is only suitable for one medium: text messages. It is certainly not suitable in an email to your economics professar at the university, even if he is too kind to cut your grades for it.
You wouldn't believe the way some of the emails my beloved husband gets are formulated. And those emails are written by university students.

A few months ago I was reading an article about swearing and was rather amazed at someones comment who said that while excessive swearing was silly, if he stubbed his toe, he wasn't going to say "Oh gosh, I stubbed my toe" but "Oh -expletive unsuitable for this blog- I -expletiveagain- stubbed my -expletive once more- toe". I will admit that if I stub my toe I also do not say "Oh gosh, I stubbed my toe". Usually I will say something like "Aaaaaawwwww!" while hopping on one foot, which might not be elegant but I do not think it is offensive to anyone.

It always delights me therefor to see a nicely turned phrase or a creative use of words in simple daily conversation or on a blog. I am utterly convinced that the way he used language was one of the reasons why I fell in love with my husband. That might sound like a pretty superficial reason, but just like the way we dress ourselves tells people something about what we value in life, so does the way we express ourselves through words. Even now, after three years of marriage I sometimes need to cross the room to give him a kiss simply because he casually used a word that other people would have to look up in a dictionary.
I plan to raise Joseph with plenty of lovely big, strange and archaic words in his vocabulary, even if it might get him the nickname 'walking dictionary' in school. (not that anyone ever would have labeled his mommy such, would they?)
It is always lovely to see other people who are doing the same thing. Wendy over at The Delighted Life is one of my heroines. I look at her blog frequently and am always delighted when there is a story about Agent K's vocabulary. If you are reading this, Wendy, the incident with the shopping cart at Target is grifted in my mind forever.
I hope that Joseph likes older women. I wouldn't mind him courting Agent K in say oh... a few decades!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I think you will love this book
http://www.amazon.com/English-Thoughtful-Child-Vol-1/dp/1882514076

Wendy said...

Eva, I am always reading (well, now that I'm back from vacation) and you are too sweet! Although most of Agent K's big words are used while scolding her brother and trying to be his second mother, I do get amused by them too. Hmmm, six years age difference really isn't that much, and Joseph is awfully cute, and obviously he comes from a good family... :)