Friday, March 10, 2006
e is for . . .
Part 2
Yes, indeed, yesterday I quoted the "eeny, meeny, miney, mo" rhyme because of what "tiger" used to be. Thank goodness it was changed, years and years ago. The point is that things change all the time. Words' meanings change, driven by changing social or popular forces. Even hallowed grammatical rules change sometimes (compare older and newer entries in Fowler about split infinitives). Some changes are very much for the better and some are just what they are, and some are silly. Changing "black sheep" to "rainbow sheep" manages to be both silly and dumb because sheep have black wool which carries no negative or positive connotation at all - it's just the color of the wool, like the color of leaves. I suppose we're all silly and dumb now and then, but I'd like to think that educators temper each other's impulses with intelligence, especially British educators. I like "going with the flow" as things change and often find my thoughts stretching in ways I like and didn't expect when I try to understand something I resist at first. But when I conclude something is really just goofy, I'm afraid I find it hard to just sigh with exasperation and then let the foolishness go. How about you?
Part 1
Yes, indeed, yesterday I quoted the "eeny, meeny, miney, mo" rhyme because of what "tiger" used to be. Thank goodness it was changed, years and years ago. The point is that things change all the time. Words' meanings change, driven by changing social or popular forces. Even hallowed grammatical rules change sometimes (compare older and newer entries in Fowler about split infinitives). Some changes are very much for the better and some are just what they are, and some are silly. Changing "black sheep" to "rainbow sheep" manages to be both silly and dumb because sheep have black wool which carries no negative or positive connotation at all - it's just the color of the wool, like the color of leaves. I suppose we're all silly and dumb now and then, but I'd like to think that educators temper each other's impulses with intelligence, especially British educators. I like "going with the flow" as things change and often find my thoughts stretching in ways I like and didn't expect when I try to understand something I resist at first. But when I conclude something is really just goofy, I'm afraid I find it hard to just sigh with exasperation and then let the foolishness go. How about you?
Part 1
Eeney, meeny, miney, mo,Who knows why I'm quoting that? Details in Part 2.
Catch a tiger by the toe,
If he hollers, let him go,
Out goes y - o - u . . .
Labels: writing
Permalink | 
| posted by jau at 8:51 AM
jau — at 11:56 AM, March 11, 2006:
| posted by jau at 8:51 AM
2 more:
jau — at 11:56 AM, March 11, 2006:
What a great idea! That's so logical. Of course, it makes it even more ILlogical to change "black" to anything else. (By the way - what exactly is a "rainbow" sheep?)
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