Blog 2555 – 10.27.2022

English Is Hard

The Greeks, the Romans, the Chinese, The Spanish, the French, the English and others all at one time or another have sought empire through conquest. One of the lasting legacies of those empires is the wide spread use of the languages of the conquerors. Whether by force or expedience many indigenous peoples gave up their languages for a common tongue.

It is an old conquerors’ trick to incorporate a few words and phrases of the conquered’s language into the invading tongue to make it easier to accept. Hard men believing their language, religion, and culture superior to others have long forced them to yield up their own. Business necessity also has long been a great drive to find common language.

Today’s picture quote gives several examples of English words used in multiple ways that make English a hard language to master. English is my first language. I studied French, Latin, and Spanish in school but never mastered any of them really. Fact is after all these years I am still struggling with English.

I try to find the most clear and encouraging words to share. I am ever amazed at how many people around the world read my daily blogs. Translation programs make it much easier to do that I am sure still I wonder what might be lost in translation.

For several weeks I have been following weekly episodes of a new Fox Network country western soap opera called Monarch. It airs on Tuesday evenings and I usually watch it on my Hulu streaming service on Wednesday mornings. It is the fictional story of a country music family with Trace Adkins, country western star, playing the the surviving patriarch of the family. His deceased wife played by Susan Sarandon, was the queen of country music and rebranded him “The Texas Truth Teller.” Ironically little could be farther from the truth for this father trapped in a web of lies mostly of his own making that he continues to spin around his children and grandchildren.

I have lived in Texas most of my life and known more than a few true Texas Truth Tellers and have tried to be one myself. Have I always gotten it right? Hardly, but I have made an effort to correct my mistakes and misrepresentations. At the same time I make a real effort to give others the benefit of the doubt when something they say or profess to believe does not appear to line up with the facts.

English Is Hard.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David White

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JlMFPlqfYX481W78kwnHpARWK7cRuOWD/view?usp=drivesdk

Broken Merry Go Round