Category: Language (Page 6 of 8)

The Ever Morphing, Humorous, Exciting, Dumber? Aspects of the English Language

June 30, 2010 / Katie L. Carroll

Seeing as I’m a nerdy writer-type, I find discussions about grammar and language fascinating. The really cool thing about these discussions are that they are so often humorous. I know, you’re thinking, Grammar and language, humorous. No way! But really, just go with me on this (I have amusing examples to back me up).

Take this video about English:

If you didn’t laugh at this, well, I suspect you may lack a pulse. It reminded me of a particular discussion I once had with my brother and hubby about superlatives, in particular the word “dumber.” (And, for the record, my brother and hubby are not dumber than I (or is it me?) because I am not dumb at all!)

Another hilarious blog post about the Alot is over at Hyperbole and a Half. And check out agent Kristin Nelson sharing funny church-bulletin bloopers at Pub Rants.

My personal stance on the English language errs on the side of tradition (except on this blog because I prefer a more conversational tone here, like it’s just you and me, sitting on the hammock on a warm summer day, chatting it up about…well, as my blog description says…whatever), but I’m always open to new interpretations of words, grammar, and style.

That’s why language is so exciting: It’s always evolving, morphing, and adapting to suit current needs. And that means there’s always room for more debate!

Magnetic Poetry: “Precious Bald Dictionary” Edition

April 5, 2010 / Katie L. Carroll

The party-goers have been expressing their creativity again with the magnetic poetry kit. This is how my guests showed their joy at celebrating my mom’s birthday (as always imaginative use of tiles has been preserved as much as possible).

imagine beauty which always sucks (the last “s” in sucks was actually part of the word “is,” but this clever–and possibly depressed–person covered the “i” with the word “suck”)
my perfect genius monkey boy will make me drown in his sweet brain music (yeah, well my perfect genius monkey boy will kick your perfect genius monkey boy’s butt…ha!)
never investigate our skeleton in the attic (what, you keep yours in the closet?)
spur cold tree old do nut this but we did an obedient whisper (doesn’t make much sense, but good use of internal rhyme)
they expose d my precious bald dictionary to release another inspiration spurt (it’s just all too shocking!)
give him the sex y ache ing ghost bosom (maybe this guy should hook up with the skeleton in the attic)
use manacle s for transgress ion s by a mean electric spider puppet (that’s sound advice if I’ve ever hear any)
ity see lime free off as out right est er un & ness & and i work and mouth black do so ly at at (I think my four-year-old niece put this one up…at least I hope it wasn’t written by someone who actually knows how to read all those words)
a girl has the voice too break every man (too 😉 true)
must explore pleasure curse (I’ll get on that right away)
bleed translucent famous dog bone love (hopefully not all over my kitchen floor)
drink down tremendous dead desire spark s then come holy silent night (I’ve heard that is the original title to “Silent Night” but over time the beginning got cut off)
devil wine manipulate vision (oh, so that’s why I was seeing double the whole night)
her shadow soul howl e d as it was compel ed to pour from he r body like a naked chicken rhythm dance ing (I don’t know about you, but my soul always howls when it pours from my body like a naked chicken rhythm dancing)
experience elaborate prostitute between vacuum (the elaborate prostitute rears her ugly head again)
e y r l fire of she I are why yes (maybe another one from my niece, but profound in its own way)

It was a record number of sayings on the refrigerator! Thanks to all participants. Feel free to take credit for your work in the comment section.

Magnetic Poetry: Poink

January 6, 2010 / Katie L. Carroll

Girls’ Christmas (my “sisters” and I get together every year for a girls-and-kids-only Christmas party) was relocated to my house at the last minute, so I requested that my guests create a sentence with the magnetic poetry kit on my refrigerator. Here’s what we came up with (as usual, I put a space in between each magnet to show the creative combinations):

love people like they a r e obedient prostitute s (I would think any obedient prostitute is easy to love, so this could be a new logo for world peace or something!)
experience perfect pleasure through bald chicken rhythm dance ing (I’d like to see bald chicken rhythm dancing…or on second thought, maybe I wouldn’t.)
spark random inspiration speak every thought investigate precious emotion (lather, rinse, repeat)
electric transgress ion s will burn holy fire (That’s what she said!)
the devil s skeleton is suck ing seed y sweet & sour soup (Nice alliteration…who knew the devil’s skeleton liked Chinese food?)

In other word news, my sister, niece, and nephews are trying to get the word “poink” into mainstream vocabulary. This started when my three-year-0ld nephew told my sister he didn’t want to sit in one of the dining-room chairs because it had a “pionk.” My sister asked, “What’s a poink?” So he showed her a broken chair rung that was sticking into his back. They now use the word regularly.

Poink has actually turned out to be very versatile. It can be a noun, as in the original sense: That needle has a sharp poink. It can be a verb, literally: Ouch! That needle just poinked me. It can be a verb, figuratively: Oh, you just got poinked. It can be an adjective: That needle is very poinky.

I checked out the urban dictionary and found some interesting definitions for poink and poinky. I recommend everyone tries to use poink in a sentence today.

Karaoke and My Favorite Punctuation

September 24, 2009 / Katie L. Carroll

I think I heard “I Love You Period” at a karaoke night (I generally don’t get up and sing myself, except to maybe provide backup when the girls get up and do “Baby Got Back” or “Ice Ice Baby“). It’s really quite a terrible song, but I thought it fitting for National Punctuation Day (yeah, yeah, we all know I’m a big dork). Here’s the full chorus in all its glory:

I love you period
Do you love me question mark
Please, please exclamation point
I want to hold you in parentheses

I’ve been thinking about what my favorite punctuation mark is, and I have to say I don’t think I can decide. I’m a big fan of the semicolon; yet I also really enjoy ellipses…and I’m sure you have all noticed how often I like to use parentheses (they’re great for asides). What’s your favorite?

Feeling A Story Despite A Language Barrier

September 2, 2009 / Katie L. Carroll

My nephew and sister showed me this clip of the Ukraine’s Got Talent winner and it was so moving I had to share it. (And for once I had something to show my husband on YouTube that he hadn’t already seen!)

I won’t pretend to understand all the symbolism of the piece (seeing as I’ve never been to the Ukraine or lived in a war-torn country), but it was certainly impressive. The speed and accuracy with which Ms. Simonova drops, moves, and swipes the sand around the light board is amazing. I love how she layers the images to merge one into another instead of wiping the whole board clean and starting over. Her musical choices (my favorite was Apocalypitca’s rendition of Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters”) were also effective in setting the tone of the piece and assisting the transitions.

As a writer, I felt like this was a lesson in story-telling. There was so much to learn from this piece: establishing voice and tone, use of symbolism, flawless transitions, engaging multiple senses, drama, story arch, relevance to the real world, emotional connection, character. It was all there. And even though it was on a Ukrainian television show, there was really no language barrier to deal with. I love words and language, but this piece just goes to show that they are limited in ways that art isn’t.

What did you think? Oh, and keep an eye out for my next post about another multisensory art form (one I have actually experienced first-hand).