{"id":1321,"date":"2015-01-21T12:00:26","date_gmt":"2015-01-21T06:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/?p=1321"},"modified":"2015-01-22T16:49:45","modified_gmt":"2015-01-22T10:49:45","slug":"i-are-right-amnt-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/?p=1321","title":{"rendered":"I are right, amn’t I?"},"content":{"rendered":"

An inveterate verbophile, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve always been interested in words, what they mean, why they mean, why they can hurt and heal. Remember that bit of doggerel about \u00e2\u20ac\u0153sticks and stones\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that may \u00e2\u20ac\u0153break my bones\u00e2\u20ac\u009d?<\/p>\n

I like to think my vocabulary is on par with the next person\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, but even after seven decades of pondering, deciphering, memorizing and manipulating words, I often come across new ones. A friend and frequent contributor to this column, Bruce Wertz, hit his Facebook friends with a word that is new to many: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153hyperpolysyllabicomania.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Thanks to some fairly predictable Greek and Latin roots, we can figure out that Bruce\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new entry has to do with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153ultra,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u009dmany,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153syllables\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and a passion, as in the ending, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153mania.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d So without even looking up the definition, we safely come up with Bruce\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s passion for long words.<\/p>\n

But beyond long words, what about those with prefixes that connote similar things? For example, think of the myriad words beginning with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153sp\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that suggest water: spill, spurt, splash, sputter. How many more can you add to the list without consulting a dictionary?<\/p>\n

And just recently (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153recently\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for a person my age could span decades, eons), I became familiar with the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153fl\u00e2\u20ac\u009d prefix which suggests rapid movement. Try it: fling, flick, flay, flip. Now, provide some of your own.<\/p>\n

For about the hundredth time, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve made the assertion that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a miracle that people learn to speak English. A long-time friend, Fred Hunt, who passed away at a young age, moved to Germany to study medicine, convinced that tuition on that side of the Atlantic was much more affordable than in the states.<\/p>\n

Well, that move required him to learn German. Years after graduating from medical school and practicing in Santa Rosa and Las Vegas, he told me that German, though not necessarily easier than English, has some features you can count on, such as the fact that nouns in German begin with a capital letter.<\/p>\n

And with few exceptions, such as the Spanish words for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153map,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153nation\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153hand,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d nouns in Spanish often end with an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153o\u00e2\u20ac\u009d if masculine and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a\u00e2\u20ac\u009d if feminine.<\/p>\n

So, how do people learn English? We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve all heard the spelling formula that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u02dci\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 before \u00e2\u20ac\u02dce,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 except after \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcc.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d That CAN be helpful, until you look at the many exceptions, such as height and sleigh, which may or may not contain the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153ay\u00e2\u20ac\u009d sound.<\/p>\n

Of course, if we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never heard the sound in question, how do we learn to spell it?<\/p>\n

Yes, English is a strange language. Here are some random thoughts about it:<\/p>\n