Pardon My French!
Thanks to Granny J, I've started looking more
closely at words like "ukase".
To be honest, I had never seen it before
last week and now I'm extending my knowledge
of French and Russian,
thanks to a comment she posted.
It's years since I rummaged daily in
dictionaries in order to understand
the people round me.
There was the year spent studying Irish
when, thanks to hours spent marking
English words in pencil over medieval
texts, I managed to get through an exam
that would steer my destiny for the rest of
my life.
Why Irish is still obligatory for students
leaving Irish secondary schools is a topic
I would prefer not to address.
It gets people hot and bothered.
Then there were the many Summers spent
rummaging in my pocket dictionary on
French beaches in order to be able
to share a joke or some mundane detail
with the non-English speakers round about.
The months spent in Rathmines Library,
studying for a diploma in Botany and Horticulture
was probably the most rewarding.
I emerged bursting with new words...
Since then I have managed to study
Commercial French
Photography (very puzzling words and concepts, indeed)
Modern Greek
Culinary English and French
'Strine
A new course of study for this Winter
is in order...
closely at words like "ukase".
To be honest, I had never seen it before
last week and now I'm extending my knowledge
of French and Russian,
thanks to a comment she posted.
It's years since I rummaged daily in
dictionaries in order to understand
the people round me.
There was the year spent studying Irish
when, thanks to hours spent marking
English words in pencil over medieval
texts, I managed to get through an exam
that would steer my destiny for the rest of
my life.
Why Irish is still obligatory for students
leaving Irish secondary schools is a topic
I would prefer not to address.
It gets people hot and bothered.
Then there were the many Summers spent
rummaging in my pocket dictionary on
French beaches in order to be able
to share a joke or some mundane detail
with the non-English speakers round about.
The months spent in Rathmines Library,
studying for a diploma in Botany and Horticulture
was probably the most rewarding.
I emerged bursting with new words...
Since then I have managed to study
Commercial French
Photography (very puzzling words and concepts, indeed)
Modern Greek
Culinary English and French
'Strine
A new course of study for this Winter
is in order...
posted by Tales from the Birch Wood. at
10:48
1 Comments:
Tis curious about ukase -- it showed up on my screen (speaking of Net lingo) many, many years ago. It pops into my head every so often. Ny take on the problem of netspeak is that new word sweep around the world like a California Santa Ana wildfire, with no chance to mellow and become comfortable in the vocabulary. It all becomes quite uncomfortable for us old folks.
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