Notes from the Smithy...
January 2010 - #70
GREETINGS/CONTENTS
Hello from Southern Oregon! It’s a new year and a new decade. Although it’s mostly gray and wet these days, spring is coming with all its green life and beauty. Praise God for His seasons.
NEWS what’s happening
JUST FOR FUN tricky sayings
CORRECT, BUT WHY? spelling thoughts
FROM HERE TO THERE reaching goals
RECENT READS a few from me
MISCELLANY as it says
NEWS
We are pleased that the Format Writing DVD is now included in a number of catalogs and is selling nicely. I’ve been working on the scripts for the next DVD, an instructional series on grammar that will aid folks who are working through Jensen’s Grammar. As stated earlier, I have set no deadlines, but progress is being made. I expect some filming will get started in late January or early February.
For those of you who have the Jensen’s Vocabulary book, I can email you a set of major tests and answers if you contact me,
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There are six of them, two for each section. They are like the test found on page 246-7 in the text. I will send them as attachments that can be printed and reproduced. They are nine week and eighteen week tests. You will have to email me to get them, but they will cost you nothing except the ink and paper to print them. I do not send these tests out with the book.
God recently graced me with another turn of the earth around the sun, and I am thankful for decent health and the ability to carry on. I will admit that the boxes of books seem to be getting heavier, but I know that is just my perception. This year I will be reprinting a couple of the books, so I will have plenty of boxes to move around. The exercise will no doubt be beneficial.
JUST FOR FUN
Words are fun, especially when they are used in an unusual way or take on a meaning that is unexpected. Sometimes a word or two will remind us of something else. Here are some sentences that qualify as funny or twisted sayings.
The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.
No matter how much you push the envelope, it will still be stationery.
A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering
Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
Two hats were hanging on a hat rack. One hat said to the other: “You stay here; I'll go on a head.”
A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: “Keep off the Grass.”
The short fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.
The man who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.
When the cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.
A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.
A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.
I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.
CORRECT, BUT WHY?
Mark Twain once put it this way: “’Tis a small mind cannot think of but one way to spell a word.”
Spelling today is regularly found in most English courses of study for the younger grades. Most of the time, lists of words are given to be memorized or mastered in some fashion. Often the words might have a theme, perhaps a certain combination of letters or maybe words grouped about a common subject. Children dutifully learn that the proper spelling is phonics, not fonics, and so forth.
It is generally supposed that there are correct and incorrect spellings of words. Spelling tests are given and graded on the basis of whether a word is spelled correctly, or at least if it is spelled in the manner that it was given to the student in the first place. This idea of right or correct spelling is supported by spell checking programs, spelling bees, dictionaries, teachers, and most adults. Moms and dads and even older siblings will often tell a youngster how to spell a given word. It is just part of the process and the culture.
How did all this come about? If you were to read some earlier writings, particularly diaries and letters, you would find that words were spelled in a variety of ways. I’ve seen Delaware, Dellyware, and Deleware in print. I can imaging Delawhere, Delawear, and so on. They all sound good. The point is there is no one right way or correct way to spell a given word. There is a conventional way, a way that society has decided is the best way to spell a word. It is more convention than correctness. Printers and teachers were and are the primary movers of establishing the standards for spelling.
Older forms of spelling may give way to newer ones. Stopped used to be spelled stopt. The language moved it from an irregular verb form to a regular verb form. Dream and leap are in the process of changing; both forms are correct: dreamed or dreamt; leaped or leapt. Sleep has made no movement at all; the preferred form is still slept; at this point sleeped does not appear as a form in the dictionaries. It appears that sleep is asleep as far as language change goes.
Look at the two sentences following. This is a bit of an unusual case, but the spelling of one word alters the meaning.
A clever dog knows its master.
A clever dog knows it’s master.
In the first case the dog recognizes its master. In the second case the dog is the master. The whole meaning changes due to the spelling of one word, and the spelling difference is whether the apostrophe appears or not.
Let me be perfectly clear that I support the idea of a conventional spelling for words. It makes for better communication and less confusion. In theory, that should be the rationale for establishing a particular spelling for a particular word. Once we all agree on that spelling, then that’s the best way to get that word on paper. Yes, I marked words on the essays and papers I read when they were not spelled in the normal or conventional manner. The fact still remains, however, that there is no right or wrong way to spell a word; there is only the conventional way. It is only correct because the majority of people have agreed that it is correct. Perhaps more accurately, it is the preferred way to spell it.
We can really say the same thing for how we pronounce words, how we punctuate words in a sentence, and how we put sentences together. The formalization of pronunciation, spelling, punctuation, and grammar rules is helpful. The desire of all of us, perhaps excepting certain politicians and lawyers, is to communicate clearly without leaving our readers or hearers confused. Thus, we try to adhere to the standards in order to be good communicators. That’s why, students, you will continue to be graded on your spelling and told that fonics is not the correct way to spell phonics even though it sounds just fine and most folks could figure out what you mean when you write it as fonics.
FROM HERE TO THERE
Recently I heard a presentation that started me to thinking about school and whole idea of learning the language. The speaker was talking about setting goals and putting some plan of action into place so that the goals could be attained. “How wonderful,” I thought, “this makes perfect sense when applied to learning.” Let’s look at the three elements generally necessary for success and then apply it to English.
The three elements identified by the speaker were goal, means or plan, and motivation. The goal is the end result, where you want to go and eventually end up. The means or plan is the method by which you hope to achieve the goal. This is your plan for how to get there. Motivation is what will drive you to the goal, why you will go, what stirs you.
If any one of the three is lacking, you probably won’t get from here to there. If you have no goal, there is nowhere in mind to go. If you have no plans, the goal has no way to become accomplished. If you have no motivation, why bother to try?
A basic illustration of a road trip is helpful. Let’s say you want to go to a particular spot of interest, maybe an historical site. You find it on a map and see where you are in relation to where you want to go. That specific spot on the map is now your goal. How will you get there? Again, you look at the map and figure out a good route to take. The route is your plan. You will follow the plan to get from here to there. Why do you want to go? The answer will be the reason you will go, your motivation. It must be strong enough to get you started and to keep you going until you reach your goal.
Let’s make the jump to a more abstract illustration. The goal is now a college education. The means for achieving that education would take into consideration the time, money, and courses necessary to pursue your degree. Your motivation might be to have a particular career; maybe it might be about having a better lifestyle or being equipped to serve others in some fashion. Your motivation had better be fairly strong because getting that degree will take some time. Staying on task will require diligence and perhaps sacrifice.
So, what does all this have to do with learning English? Plenty! The basic goal of learning the language well is to become proficient in communicating your ideas and arguments to others, and secondarily, to be able to follow and understand the expressed thoughts of others. You very likely have a desire to be understood by others, and at times you would like to be able to persuade others to do your bidding or to come around to your point of view. The desires to be understood and to be persuasive are natural.
What about the means to becoming a good communicator? What would a good road map look like? Certainly it would include learning how to spell and punctuate well. It would likely set aside some time to enlarge your vocabulary so that you could be more precise in your word choices. Precision in expression will aid in being clear. Some grammar would be helpful so that you can use varying constructions to add interest and clarity to your communications. Some writing instruction would helpful as well since not all communication is verbal. All of this boils down to a course of study that is complete and provides for experiences through various exercises.
I’ve already hinted at the motivation. You want to be clear in your communication so that you will be understood. You want to be good at presenting your ideas, perhaps so that others will influenced in their thinking, even to the point of adopting your positions on some things. Although good communication skills are helpful in all walks of life, certain occupations require better or even excellent communication skills. Maybe you want to be a teacher, a radio or TV announcer, an actor, an author, a copywriter, and the list goes on.
So let’s recap. The goal is being a good communicator. The means is a well-rounded course of study that will provide various experiences in developing your expertise. The motivation is to be clearly understood and even persuasive if necessary. Do it right and stick with it; you can be a good communicator.
RECENT READS
Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer was a troubling book. It was based on the story of Pat Tillman. Pat was on the NFL Arizona Cardinals and joined up to serve in Afghanistan where he was killed by friendly fire. The book was well written, but the politics and philosophies of some people in the book were somewhat distasteful to me.
L.E. Modesitt, Jr. is one of my favorite fantasy authors. He writes an interesting story and develops his characters very nicely. The Lord Protector’s Daughter is the latest book in his Corian Chronicles series. Mr. Modesitt does not disappoint. I enjoyed this book very much.
Charles George Gordon, or “Chinese” Gordon, is the central character of Gordon of Khartoum. John Pollock did an immense about of research to put this book together. Almost every sentence, and certainly every paragraph, has some reference to a private letter, a prior biography, official military and political documents, and the like. I knew nothing of this man prior to reading the book, but it turns out he was one of the top three English heroes of all time and was given a state memorial funeral upon his death in 1885. He was a very interesting man and a devout Christian. The final quote from a Muslim who saw him die says it all; “He was strong in his faith.”
Bruce Olson is a missionary about my age and from a similar background. He has written two books, Bruchko, and Bruchko and the Motilone Miracle. I had the pleasure of reading both of them recently. Bruchko reads like a novel; it is Bruce’s real story of going to a dangerous and feared South American Indian tribe in the jungles of Colombia. The follow-up book named above was written some years later and describes his capture by a militia and some other adventures as well as the progress the Motilone have made over the years. If you are interested in missions or Christian biographies or just want to read a good story about how God works His wonderous ways, read these two books.
Never Stop Dreaming is the story of Carl Karcher, the Ohio farm boy who had a dream and pursued it successfully. He is the founder of Carl’s Jr. restaurants, which all began with his purchase of a hot dog stand in 1941 while running a bread route in the LA area. It is an inspiring book.
Iain D. Campbell wrote Heroes and Heretics. It is a history of Christianity organized into one chapter per century. It is a good overview with some extra emphasis on Scotland since that is where he is from and where he delivered the set of lectures that are the basis for the book.
Going Rogue is Sarah Palin’s story. She wrote it after the 2008 campaign. It is an easy read and is of interest because of its timeliness. If all she says is true, and it comes across as such, Mrs. Palin’s treatment by some people in the McCain campaign and the general media was quite poor. The media seemed to go out of its way to make her appear a fool or worse. She has fond memories of many of the people she met on the campaign trail, and she genuinely liked most of the people who worked directly with her. The book also lightly covers her early life and Alaskan politics. Read it and learn for yourself about Sarah and her side of the story.
MISCELLANY
1. Excerpts of material from this newsletter may be freely used so long as proper credit is given as to the source. Feel free to copy it and pass it along.
2. This newsletter is posted quarterly on the website, and it is emailed free to those who wish to subscribe. The email version is yours for as long as you want to receive it as long as I continue to publish it.
3. At present I am not scheduled to speak or have a booth anywhere in 2010.
4. Thanks to all of you who bought and recommended books in the past year. While sales were down some due to the poor economy, you and others continued to buy books. Thanks again.
5. The next issue of Smithy Notes is scheduled for distribution sometime in the spring, probably around tax time. There are times when I wonder at the longevity of this newsletter, but ideas continue to come to mind, so I continue to write. God is good and gracious.
BY HIS GRACE ALONE,
Frode Jensen
