Page 60 - some-stuff-i-wrote-and-some-stuff-i-didn't-(2011)-h-morris-williams

Some Stuff I Wrote and Some Stuff I Didn't (2011) H. Morris Williams

English teachers used to go ballistic when a kid ended a sentence with a
preposition and, though I knew the rule, I never understood exactly what
all the fuss was about. Parodying the rule, one man said, “That’s the kind

of nonsense up with which I will not put.”

Then there was the visitor walking across the campus at Harvard

University who stopped a professor and asked, ‘Excuse me, sir, can you
please tell me where the library is at?’ The professor said, ‘Yes I can but
we don’t end sentences with prepositions at Harvard University.” The
visitor replied, “Sorry, sir. No offense intended. Can you please tell me

where the library is at, you jerk!”

Some people create words that sound like they should be real words. My
sister Marjie called the settee the ‘squatee’. My mother called the
dentist’s tooth pulling pliers ‘pullikins.’ When my son David was a pre­

schooler he called the CHS marching band the ‘musikets.’

My interest in words goes back to Mrs. Ethel Browning, the best English
teacher I ever had. She seemed to know every rule of grammar there was
and she always took time to explain the rule and the reason for the rule. I

am honored that she reads my column.

Mrs. Browning also taught me that language is alive and changes over
time. Some words are added, some get dropped. Some old words I miss
are supper (now dinner), picture show (now movie), and emergency brake
(now parking brake). Some words I never hear any more are lumbago,

store bought, and castor oil.

I had another English teacher who told me my English was far from

perfect but that it was ‘communicable.’ Say what?

Some of us older geezers have a good ear for the spoken language
because we grew up listening to the radio where you had to pay attention
to what was said to get the message or the joke.

I feel especially blessed that I grew up in a church that used the King
James Version of the Bible. To me, that is our language at its best.

I ‘ju s t’ hope you will like today’s ‘little ’ column ‘ju st’ a little bit.

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