I started this blog because I wanted to record, dissect and reflect on words, from their use to their abuse, recognising of course the English language today is dynamic. It belongs to everyone yet to no one in particular.
Words can be evocative, funny, crude, obfuscating, clarifying, etc.
My fascination with jokes, puns and other humorous devices started with my own self-discovery -- that such devices are a powerful medium and a window into how we look at life. Also, like tree rings, they are a record of "time" -- when we can recall which humorous account was related by whom at which point in time. I bemoaned in an earlier posting how I wished I could recall (and understood) the first joke I heard.
I also pride myself on being a fairly decent wordsmith, one who explores the meaning/s of words and their contexts and nuances. I think I was quite dogmatic once but I now accept that I have still a lot to learn.
Just today, I was going to post here -- after seeing a newspaper report on "the myriad of challenges" that China faces -- my insistence that "myriad" is an adjective that takes no article, that is, that it should be "myriad challenges". Some checks with reputable sources proved me blindsided. Someone I respected had taught me the word's rigid usage, and I had accepted his wisdom.
I also learnt today that "myriad" -- meaning "too numerous to be counted" -- once stood, in the original Greek, for "ten thousand". This discovery is fascinating! The Chinese too think of units of 10,000 (zi ban thai, in Hokkien); so too the Japanese (banzai).
Words are thus a window to so many things.
How's this for a witty (and risque) headline - when Anwar Ibrahim was called up for his alleged involvement in Sodomy II, the Straits Times (I think) had this headline: "Anwar probed in second sodomy case" or something to that effect.
ReplyDelete