I read an article recently that talked about how many words of the English language we lose each year because thay are no longer used. That may not seem significant in the days of Instant Messenger and Text Messaging, but I beg to differ.
My favorite tool in Microsoft Word is the thesaurus. First of all, I love that word..."thesaurus". It conjures up a mental picture of a gi-normous creature made up of syllables, constantans, adverbs, nouns, vowels, and adjectives. Something like you would see on School House Rock in the 70's & 80's. I can just picture the cartoon, can't you?! A big, friendly brontosaurs with happy eyes and a welcoming smile. Not a silly creature, no, but a cultured and content beast...quietly waiting to share his treasure of wisdom with those who will still take the time to listen. Yes, the thesaurus is a magnificent tool...always there to provide precisely the perfect word for the moment.
In essence, words are all we have...and the fewer we have of them, the less effectively we can communicate with each other. I enjoy big words and I love long, elaborate sentences. Perhaps that is a testament to the authors I love...Wordsworth, Thoreau, Hemmingway, Herrick, Shakespeare, Donne, Yeats, Fitzgerald, etc. I have always loved to write and to write grand. But somewhere along the way, the evil establishment that is "they" told me that I should not write this way. "They", who profess to love the language and its fruits, said that I should not use substantial words and luxurious sentences...I was told I needed to communicate as if my only audience was a batch of derelict 8th graders. But why? Why should I dumb-down my writing and my expression of myself...after all, I was only trying to be as accurate as possible?? "They", of course, had no suitable answer for me, but were more then happy to take points off my compositions to demonstrate their facile dominance. Unfortunately, last I heard, "they" are still at large, squelching a whole new generation of potential poets.
I can not believe how little children today read! (warning: I've hiked up my skirt to step gracefully up on to one of my favorite soapboxes) Our schools today have cut out virtually all worthwhile literature for fear that it will offend someone or talk about a subject not "appropriate" for children. This is wrong in every sense of the word and each and every teacher I know feels the same. Huckleberry Finn...yes, I am afraid they did use the word "nigger" and you know what? So did most of this country! No, that doesn't make it right, but it is still a part of our history. Just because a topic is uncomfortable does not mean we should not let our children know about it. And Harry Potter? So many schools have not allowed teachers to use these amazing stories as part of their curriculum. Why? Witches & Wizards are not "appropriate for school". Forget that these books are beautiful creations that most kids are reading anyway and look at the fact that almost every Fairy Tale in our collective mythology has a witch or wizard in it. All of these stories are tools to teach values, history, & moral lessons and it is an outrage that children are not reading these remarkable works of art. No, not every child will like these -- heck, I have read "classics" that I did not like. A Separate Peace? Hated it. But I am glad I read it because it is a classic piece of literature.
Stop kids from reading and let them to continue to defile their intellect with computer games and television and we will administer the fatal blow to the English language as we know it. Who knows...we may all soon be required to write on a 5th grade level.
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