Blog 3

I am learning a new (for me) language.

After American English, this is my third.

Oh, I learned a few foreign words as a child.

Mom taught me the meaning of Schweinehund, probably fearing I might repeat it in polite company or drop it on some humorless oaf twice my size. Dad did not teach me Norwegian. I was twelve before an adopted aunt informed me that I was a “svensk pojke,” my first Swedish lesson (and last).

I learned spoken French as a necessity while stationed at an Army base in northern France. Combien, ca-va, Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?, and all that. Later, I learned scientific French in grad school, facilitated by my conversational experience.

I needed a second foreign language to qualify for my PhD and thought Russian would be fun. Not so much. Still, it seemed appropriate, given they had just launched Sputnik and the space race. First came the alphabet with 33 strange-appearing but pronounceable letters. The spoken scientific Russian is sometimes less foreign than the written, and I taught myself just enough to pass the language exam.

After passing both French and Russian exams, I had little occasion to translate into or out of them. But because I had a nodding acquaintance with French, I was assigned to host a visiting French husband/wife scientist team--no not Marie and Pierre. They taught me the meaning of the word “merde,” something my Army experience had somehow missed.

Except for that, English has commanded nearly my total attention to language for the past 60 years. First the specialized syntax of chemistry, physics and mathematics during my educational and professional careers. Then more literary aspects as I found time for writing in various genre during retirement. And for the past few years, my day usually starts with the daily crossword puzzle in our small daily newspaper. I still use pencil.

As to the mystery language with which I started this blog, I have heard it for all my life but never understood it. That is about to change and progress eventually from understanding to enhanced enjoyment of this strange, yet common tongue.

Stay tuned.

Richard

    Author T. L. Gray, who inspired me to attempt blogging, was kind enough to mention my first, nascent blog on her Facebook page: “Check out my friends first blog!”

    I gratefully thanked her, but added a warning to beware of the apostrophe police. Just couldn’t help myself.

    After reading Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss almost ten years ago, I’ve had a heightened awareness of missing and misplaced punctuation--not that my own’s flawless, I s’pose. Truss presents erudite yet humorous and thus memorable commentary on punctuation usage, especially the use or misuse of apostrophes and commas.

    E.g. from the Introduction:

“A cat has claws at the end of its paws.

A comma’s a pause at the end of a clause.”

    My friend, Mary Cunningham, author of the YA Cynthia’s Attic series of books, occasionally sports a Tee decorated with the statements:

“Punctuation Counts. Let’s eat, Grandma.”

The comma is critical.

    Still, among good writers punctuation may be unpredictable. The unconventional and highly lauded Cormac McCarthy, for example, eschews quotation marks in dialogue and other punctuation. He thinks there is no reason “to blot the page with weird little marks.” My own omissions are generally less intentional except in poetry where format and meter control the flow of words, and punctuation is often unnecessary, even disruptive.

    I still refer occasionally to a diminutive, yellowing 1979 edition of The Elements of Style by Strunk and White, a gift from someone who apparently I could benefit from reading it. I own the much later illustrated hardback edition too but most often refer to the pocket-sized paperback for a concise and simplified guide to punctuation and usage.

    Richard < : - ( Blog 2

I'll be away for a little while now. Hope to hear from you soon.

NeoBlogger Post Numero Uno

ProetryPlace. No spellchecker, it's not misspelled.
This is where I spill my guts, share my opinions, shoot off my mind about whatever may grab my attention,
but mostly about writing and reading, i.e. prose and poetry. I will be gathering up samples from my writings to post here from time to time, including material from my book of poetry, Another Season Spent, published by Vabella Publishing and available there as well as Amazon in Print and Kindle versions and at Barnes and Noble.
Welcome to ProetryPlace. Please visit when you can and leave your comments. Richard