Wade Kelly's Blog - Posts Tagged "language"
I want to be THIS guy!
I don't normally post videos. For one, I don't take loads of time to watch YouTube videos because I spend my "free time" writing, but someone sent me a link and I watched it! I found it HILARIOUS!
I swear I almost snorted coffee out of my nose!
John Branyan and the Three Little Pigs
What I liked the most, besides the Shakespearian language (which, btw, I love and now I know it was because he had a working vocabulary of 56,000 words!), was the way the guy (John Branyan) took a well known kids fairy-tale and re-wrote it. He didn't write a different tale for the pigs only used different words. Rich words, meaty words, words that aren't used in the everyday language of people you meet everyday. BUT! These very same words are used among my family members!! ha ha HA! I live amidst wordsmiths who endeavor to enrich themselves and their command of the English language by 1. reading the dictionary 2. listening to Podcasts from "A Way With Words" at waywordradio.org and (3. using said enriched vocabulary to confound other family members who are not privy to such diverse language. :)
Yes, you guessed it, we are a bunch of nerds in my family. Crazy people who like language! The history of language, the dumbing down of language, ways to develop richer language, everything really. Words are interesting. The evolution of words is interesting. The roots of expressions, etc..., are topics of discussion on long car rides. THIS is where my vocabulary comes from. Not that it is all that extensive at the moment, but I try! I listen, I pay attention, and often I find myself using words for which I don't know the definition and yet when I look it up, I find I used it correctly in a sentence! Crazy how that works!!!
This is not a phenomenon that happens over night. It takes time. Years. Being around people who strive to think intelligent thoughts and bandy about concepts that confound my imagination SOMETIMES worms into my subconscious to later pop out and surprise even myself that I was listening.
So, when you wonder what THIS AUTHOR does with unexpected spare time, >>I write! But I also hang out with weird people who listen to podcasts on topics like: "What’s in a pet’s name? Martha and Grant swap stories about how they came up with names for their dogs. Also this week: Have you ever been called a stump-jumper? How about a snicklefritz? And what’s the last word in the dictionary? Depending on which dictionary you consult, it might be zythum, zyzzyva, zyxomma, or zyxt." (on A Way With Words) AND I watch crazy stand-up comedians like John Branyan make fun of the dumbing down of our language by using Old British English in a children's rhyme.
A snap-shot into my insanity ;)
ta-ta for now!
Wade
I swear I almost snorted coffee out of my nose!
John Branyan and the Three Little Pigs
What I liked the most, besides the Shakespearian language (which, btw, I love and now I know it was because he had a working vocabulary of 56,000 words!), was the way the guy (John Branyan) took a well known kids fairy-tale and re-wrote it. He didn't write a different tale for the pigs only used different words. Rich words, meaty words, words that aren't used in the everyday language of people you meet everyday. BUT! These very same words are used among my family members!! ha ha HA! I live amidst wordsmiths who endeavor to enrich themselves and their command of the English language by 1. reading the dictionary 2. listening to Podcasts from "A Way With Words" at waywordradio.org and (3. using said enriched vocabulary to confound other family members who are not privy to such diverse language. :)
Yes, you guessed it, we are a bunch of nerds in my family. Crazy people who like language! The history of language, the dumbing down of language, ways to develop richer language, everything really. Words are interesting. The evolution of words is interesting. The roots of expressions, etc..., are topics of discussion on long car rides. THIS is where my vocabulary comes from. Not that it is all that extensive at the moment, but I try! I listen, I pay attention, and often I find myself using words for which I don't know the definition and yet when I look it up, I find I used it correctly in a sentence! Crazy how that works!!!
This is not a phenomenon that happens over night. It takes time. Years. Being around people who strive to think intelligent thoughts and bandy about concepts that confound my imagination SOMETIMES worms into my subconscious to later pop out and surprise even myself that I was listening.
So, when you wonder what THIS AUTHOR does with unexpected spare time, >>I write! But I also hang out with weird people who listen to podcasts on topics like: "What’s in a pet’s name? Martha and Grant swap stories about how they came up with names for their dogs. Also this week: Have you ever been called a stump-jumper? How about a snicklefritz? And what’s the last word in the dictionary? Depending on which dictionary you consult, it might be zythum, zyzzyva, zyxomma, or zyxt." (on A Way With Words) AND I watch crazy stand-up comedians like John Branyan make fun of the dumbing down of our language by using Old British English in a children's rhyme.
A snap-shot into my insanity ;)
ta-ta for now!
Wade
