Watch Your Language - Words Count

Singing the song Ancient Words, “long preserved for our walk in this world...,” in worship this morning excited something I have had rumbling around in my mind for  weeks, or maybe even years. Then, going to Applebee's for lunch, and hearing the host say,  “Here's your guys's menus.” and, being addressed or referred to as “guys” every time the waitress came to check on us, ignited a sleeping volcano in my mind. A line from Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado came to mind--“The Thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.” Yes, I gave our waitress a fair tip; she had served us well. She, along with the host, had also inspired resolve within me to put the random rumblings of my mind into written form--thus, this blog; and I foist it upon my friends.

When I was a high school English teacher, I would often dismiss my classes with the admonition “Watch your language.” Yes, it was a double entendre. I wanted my students to use correct grammar and I also wanted them to speak on a higher level than was typical in the hallways of Kalamazoo Central High School. Profanity and vulgarity was all too common.

Undoubtedly in the grand scheme, almost anything can be overdone or taken to the extreme. Louise Walker, was an English professor at Western Michigan College when I took Freshman English in 1955. We called her Granny Walker, even though she walked up and down the Davis Street steps on the old campus twice each day. She wore  too much makeup and jewelry--what a Freshman English descriptive writing subject she would have been, had we dared to do so. We also called her “The Triple Threat Grammarian.” (Make no mistake, I admired  this woman then, and I still do.) One day  she pointed her long, boney, double ringed, triple coated, nail polished, index finger at our  class and said, “If it is the last thing I do, I am going to teach you the correct usage of lie  and lay.” (Emphasis hers!) I do not know how many of the class got it, probably many, but I know I did. Thank you, Louise, you have made me one of a kind. I am the only one in the world now who has this inside information. I have tried to forget it, but it just won't go away. If anyone reading this wants in on the secret, just let me know, but caveat emptor, let the buyer beware. And remember, sometimes, just occasionally, ignorance is bliss.

In the same ways that matters can be overemphasized, so too can they be overlooked. I don’t mean to take small things to extremes, but when the book of Genesis says that God created humans, male and female, in His own image, how complimentary, or degrading, is it to refer to or call everyone, male and female, even senior citizens guys? Yes, I know, some preachers do that too. And, I know, in some situations “guys” can be a term of endearment and that is alright; context determines that. But, I still ask the question. (Truth be told, this bespeaks a much larger issue--the loss of a cultural metanarrative, a blog is going on in my mind on that too.)

Change occurs in any living language, but, when we violate a specific grammatical construction or principal, and allow it to become common and accepted, It breeds loss of standards in general. And, most such changes come about through ignorance. We would never allow same with mathematical equations or chemical formulas.  No, it's not quite the same thing, but it is closely related--words matter. I love it that the first chapter of Genesis records that “God said/called”  sixteen times.  

On a less grand scale, why do so many say, for instance, “Where is it at?” At is a preposition which must have an object; in this use it doesn’t. Yes, I know, even Wolf Blitzer of CNN does this. But listen to the inflection when you say that. It naturally sounds out, “Where is it at ?” Isn’t what you really want to say is, “Where is it?” How often do you hear, “I seen.”? Whatever happened to, “Today I see; yesterday I saw, and I have seen many times.”? A common usage that really sounds illiterate is using him/her in the nominative case. It comes out something like, “Him and I went to ---- Her and and I are going ----.” Or, even worse, “Me and him/her ---” Come on! How about standard English grammar usage!? Or, the mod, male model for Men’s Wearhouse on a TV ad says, “You’re going to look as good as me.”  And, then there’s the ubiquitous hopefully! “Hopefully, we will see you there.” or something like that is so common. Indeed! And, too many others that have just arisen out of sloppiness. I don’t mean to be indignant or an old curmudgeon, but sometimes I think we would benefit individually and culturally if we still had the spirit Louise Walker in our halls of learning, I do know if all this is not in our values, it would make little difference in practice.

This may not be as big an issue as I seem to be making it; maybe it’s bigger, but I think it is important, at least worth dialoguing. An analogy I remember from Deiter Heineke went something like this. (Dr. Heineke was an articulate, German born, Western Mich. University president, who in his retirement wrote a newspaper column on matters and manners of speech. Does it matter if I use flatware when I eat? Probably not as far as getting the food inside and getting the nutrition I need. Does it matter to you if you are sitting across from me? Just imagine watching me shove mashed potatoes into my mouth with my fingers along with eggs and beets--yuk. Poor you. Wouldn’t that spoil your meal? Good grammar is something like that.

I am blessed with family and friends who care about matters such as this, perhaps they don’t all care as much as I do; even so, my cup runneth over. 

Emily Dickinson said it well: “ A word is dead when it is said, Some say;

             But I say, it just begins to live that day.”

          

  “May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart

            Be acceptable to You, O Lord, my rock and redeemer.”  (Psalm 19:14)