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Category Archives: Language
A Single Word Can Change Everything
I stumbled upon an interesting bit of wordplay this morning, courtesy of a writer-directed Facebook post. Here it is: She told him that she loved him. The post went on to say that by inserting the word ‘only’ in various places, … Continue reading
Posted in Language, Writing
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Unutterable
It has come to my attention that the French language is far more difficult for me to understand than I had earlier imagined. My mouth is not properly configured to speak, nor are my ears constructed to hear, the sounds … Continue reading
Posted in Absurdist Fantasy, Language
2 Comments
Two Hundred
Poetry can utter thoughts one dare not say aloud, nor commit to prose, because poetry is a language of suggestion, interpretation, influence. “It means what it means to you” or “It means what you want it to mean.” That vague avoidance of … Continue reading
Posted in Language, Poetry, Writing
2 Comments
Only So Far…
The difference between fear and terror is one of intensity and effect. Fear is authoritative. Terror is dominant. Fear generates a response. Terror triggers panic. Fear leads to action. Terror results in paralysis. Consider, as well, the difference between liking and loving. … Continue reading
Posted in Just Thinking, Language
2 Comments
And on other matters…
It seems one of my favorite phrases, “slogging through the porridge,” belongs only to me. I have used it only once in my blog (that I can find), but it escapes my lips in conversation not infrequently and it has … Continue reading
Posted in Language, Welding, Writing
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Caramel Floods
Soft and thick like flash-cooled caramel, my thoughts creep along in slow motion, their hard edges dragged around obstacles that get in their way by the more pliable core within. Thinking is, at times, an exercise in patience. When the mind … Continue reading
Posted in Language, Writing
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Un Qualunque Mattino
Some of my favorite tunes are by Gianmaria Testa, an Italian singer-songwriter. I do not understand the words to any of his music because I do not speak Italian, but I think I understand the emotions of the music. Still, I wish I … Continue reading
Posted in Language, Music
4 Comments
I Should Have Sawn This Coming
The complexity of the world around us is staggering. It’s not enough that we must be capable of acknowledging and recognizing the incalculably vast differences between butterflies and locomotives. No, we have to distinguish between components of each of them, and of … Continue reading
Skin in the Game
Here’s how it happened: I went looking for the etymology of “skin in the game.” What I found was a set of words that describe some concepts I never knew existed or, at least, I’d never thought about. A word exists, I learned, … Continue reading
Posted in Language
2 Comments
Scientific Inquiry
The older I get, the more I appreciate the magnificence of scientific inquiry and the more I appreciate its civility. Science and politics are worlds apart, one populated by people who strive to understand the world, the other by a … Continue reading
Posted in Language, Science
2 Comments
The Ides of March
In my opinion, the primary reason we know the ides of March is that Shakespeare incorporated the phrase “beware the ides of March” into Julius Caesar, a soothsayer’s warning to Caesar. His impending assassination by Brutus and Cassius would take place on … Continue reading
Posted in Language, Time
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Trends in Benign Neglect
I read something not long ago in which the term “benign neglect” was used. My memory tells me it was used to describe a suggested policy in which improvements in education would occur if the State would just stop investing time and … Continue reading
Posted in Language, Politics
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The Trouble with Words
Komorebi, as I came to learn recently, is a Japanese word meaning sunlight filtering through tree leaves. If I am to properly describe the dim, non-illuminated areas on a wall next to the komorebi coming through the window, I need a … Continue reading
Posted in Language
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The Sound of Wind Rustling in the Trees
I have added another word to my vocabulary, though I can’t guarantee it will stay. Thanks to my friend, Trish, I now know that psithurism (a noun) means, according to various sources, the sound of wind in the trees and … Continue reading
Posted in Language
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Morbid Curiosity?
I stumbled across something intriguing this morning. It was of sufficient interest to warrant the further investigation which followed. My fascination with language and its role in the human condition prompted my search and what, ultimately, might be considered morbid … Continue reading
Posted in Language
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In the Beginning, There was the Word
The concept of human language is fascinating to me. How is it that the sounds constituting Japanese and English and Arabic are so remarkably different, for example? And, quite apart from the differences in spoken words, how and why did written … Continue reading
Posted in Language
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We Can Borrow Them
木漏れ日 The symbols above constitute a Japanese phrase for “sunlight filtering through tree leaves.” The English spelling of the phrase is komorebi. I see no need to reinvent the wheel, or create a new word in a language that already has some … Continue reading
Posted in Language
3 Comments
Another Lover, Same Story
So many definitions of love, such a vast array of wildly disparate viewpoints of an emotion; yet people seem to have stunningly similar, deeply intimate perspectives on the emotion that feeds on intimacy. I have fallen in love again, for perhaps the thousandth time, but … Continue reading
Posted in Language, Love
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Starving Artists and Other Crimes
I love words—the way they work together to express thoughts. But they can work together with context to form thoughts, too. The title of this post, for example. If I had been clever, I could have called this post a how-to guide, but … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Language, Writing
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There’s a term for that…
Repetition has the interesting effect of making perfectly normal words sound like nonsense syllables. Try it. Prong. Prong. Prong. Prong. Prong. Prong. Prong. Prong. Prong. Eventually, perhaps already, the word has begun to sound like gibberish. It will work equally … Continue reading
Posted in Language
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Lengua Confudido
Question: What is a powerful narcotic one might find in Addis Ababa? Answer: Ethiopiate. Question: What statement about a word cannot easily and simply be made in written form without using non-alphabetic symbols? Answer: There are three ways to spell the word whose sound is best … Continue reading
Posted in Language
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Which Came First?
I watched several instructional YouTube videos yesterday, videos posted as marketing pieces for online art instruction. My purpose in watching them was to learn a bit about painting with acrylics, something I’ve done several times without the benefit of any instruction … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Language
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Crimson
April 17, like all other days, provides me with an opportunity to exhibit random curiosity. Today’s random curiosity found itself exploring the meaning and origins of the word “crimson.” I can’t say with even a shred of certainty why that … Continue reading
Posted in Language
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Red Herring
If you make a point, every day, of thinking about and then learning about something of which you know little, you will expand your intellectual horizons. That’s what I say. Today, I explored the etymology of the term “red herring.” … Continue reading
Posted in Language
4 Comments
Lagniappe in Suspension
A few years ago, my wife introduced me to a term I’d probably heard before, but did not quite understand: amuse-bouche. She introduced the term to me as we sat in a Mexican restaurant and were served a very nice … Continue reading
Posted in Language
2 Comments