Digression

I was originally going to post a review of a series I had been reading. However, the depth of the series demanded more attention than I was at liberty to find time to write about. (I could be doing it now, but that is not where my inspiration lies).

I love to read, but now am relegated to textbooks for the main part of my life. I read a lovely essay by George Orwell called 'Politics and the English Language.' His thesis is that Englishmen feel that their language is somehow inferior to French, Greek, Latin, and other nations' dialects. Orwell defends the English language as having a charm of its own, that its death is spelled out through meaningless metaphors and foreign foolery.

The ways that English makes use of foreign phraseology only causes both grammars and syntaxes to be misused. The English form of communication is a proud tradition, and not a shameful burden upon the Western world. It is time that we cleaned house of all the useless conjunctions that we toss around merely for the affected connotation rather than literal meaning. When something needs to be communicated, do so in the simplest terms and definitions available. Take a direct route rather than a scenic meandering that loses your intended audience. I laughed at the silly, superfluous people who made such mistakes. My attitude was quickly sobered by the candid confession of Orwell, "Look back through this essay, and for certain, you will find that I have again and again committed the very faults I am protesting against." If he who has written and railed against the downfall of the English language is capable of lapses, everyone else is as well. However, in the future, I will no longer be ignorant of the faults of my oral and written information skills. Orwell's warning should breed a healthy sense of self censorship and caution when communicating.

There are a majority of fools and dreamers in this world, the knack is for discerning which is which.

Good fortune to all

And Understanding more so

Where you fall, you grow.