"What that april with the soures sota. The drought of March hath perced toh the rota, and bathed everay veyne in sweech lecour. Of wich vershu engendred es le couer."
When I was a junior in high school, my wonderful AP English teacher made us memorize a variety of texts as part of our normal day to day instruction. Among the things we learned, one of our first assignments was memorizing the quote above. (And because there is at least one of my "followers" who might remember this,I guessed at the spelling based on how I remember it sounding). That is actually English. Old English to be exact. (And unfortunately if you google "old English" you don't get a lot of hits on the language). This particular teacher was one of the reasons I pursued English as my college major and one of the reasons I had every intention (even through my senior year of college) to pursue a career in that field.
I think I have always been fascinated by language and its impact on culture, relationships, society--everything. I love studying the history of the evolution of language through the ages and even enjoyed the memorization of various poems ("To be or not to be, that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the whips and stings of outrageous fortune, or by opposing end them. To die, to sleep. To sleep perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub..."--from memory--my English friends--did I get it right?) I am remembering right now a phrase I read once (and will quote from memory) "she had always loved the swirl of language and words shaped her experience of the world. He, on the other hand, felt words bent experience like sticks in a stream..." I am decidedly the former.
This morning, I went to an "internet tips and trends" presentation that was supposed to illuminate some of the sweeping, dramatically rapid shifts we have seen in how we communicate over the last 10 years. I am fascinated by this subject and its implications on everything from how we do business to how my children will interact with the world when they are as old as I am. I posted this video on my facebook site a few weeks and since I have shown it to a handful of people who don't seem to have the same enthusiasm I have for the topic. I've also been thinking lately about the way I see younger generations communicating in terms of sentence structure, spelling, grammar etc. (the phrase "nails on a chalkboard" comes to mind). I find the generational shifts in relationships, communication, expectations etc. just mesmerizing. More on that later.
I pulled these thoughts together before the presentation and now, after, I have a ton more thoughts. Unfortunately, my fingers cannot keep up with my brain right now and distractions abound. More soon...
I watched the video link on you tube and it was interesting and scary to me. I already feel like I can't keep up with the technology. I remember when my parents got frustrated with setting up a VCR(that we used to rent instead of owned) and I now can relate to their pain. I read an article in the paper this morning about education in the United States and how it isn't keeping up with the sociological changes, in particular, technology and concluded that the best way to educate is by virtual learning. Pretty much everything by electronic devices with on-line discussions, simpler submission and checking of homework and much reduced costs for transportation and real estate since it is all done at home. Pretty much home-schooling.
ReplyDeleteWe really enjoy your blog. It is a good way for me to keep up with how your kids are doing and growing. You are a great writer!(Angie told me to add the exclamation point.) Our favorite is still the story about making a story at dinner by each person adding a line to the story and Claire says, "It died." We've played that game before and had fun with it, too.
:) <3(I guess this is a heart per Angie) I have so much to learn.
Happy Easter. Lisa