Language, Naturally
Much of the language with which the older generation grew up derived naturally from our direct association with agriculture. No longer, of course ... and thus this language is becoming less common.
'Ploughing on regardless';
'Sowing seeds of' - discontent?
'Weeding out', et cetera;
They'll wonder what we meant.
'Furrowed brows',
‘Hedge your bets',
‘Breezing’ through a test;
‘Deal with thorny issues’;
‘Stirring up a hornet’s nest’.
‘Bogged down’ in an argument;
Embracing ‘winds of change’ …..
Words and phrases such as these
Will one day seem quite strange.
‘Bring them down to earth’ again;
‘Swim against the tide’ -
Language from close contact
With when lives were lived outside.
So what’s the language we’ll bequeath?
'Close contact with the' - what?
Techno-concrete-asphalt
W w w dot ??
Not really. Just thinking!
~
'Playing with Words'
"For dressing down,” Ma shouted,
“You deserve a dressing down!
Dressing up, my dear,
Is simply not a dressing gown!”
Clarity From Some Confusion
Based on a poem by John Clare
"The maiden wonders on", it read -
The path which "leads somewhere":
Two phrases from this morning's poem -
'November' by John Clare.
The maiden's 'lost' in winter mist,
And 'wonder' here means 'wander';
Interesting confusion,
When to 'wonder' can mean 'ponder'.
To 'wonder' also means to marvel,
Be amazed, in awe;
And as I think and amble
I'm aware of something more ....
For to wander is to wonder -
It’s the body and the mind
On a journey without purpose,
Leaving logic maps behind.
Perhaps we could begin to say:
"Let's take a ‘wonder-wander’;
Leave the here and now
And find whatever might lie yonder."
What that might be cannot be said:
Let ‘wonder-wandering’ be
The means to new imaginings -
And other ways to see.
Mike Smith
Hop-A-Long Cassidy
A film I remember
Was ‘Hopalong Cassidy’ -
Priory Cinema,
Every Saturday.
Best things about him?
Hopalong’s hat -
Plus Hopalong’s necker:
A third thing.
“What’s that?”
Hopalong’s limp
Is the third thing I’d choose:
It was, without doubt,
The best tactic I used.
"Used a limp? Used a limp?
What do you mean?”
I limped when I fancied
A girl I had seen.
She’d think, ‘Oh he’s brave.
He must be in pain.’
And when I walked back
I’d be limping again.
For the limp was a means
To be known as, forthwith,
That brave kid (That's me!)
Called Limp-A-Long Smith.
~
An Old Man Ponders
His name was Ron, and I remember him - bewildered - standing by the greengrocer’s in Market Place, Howden, a couple of years ago - or more ….
He gazes at the traffic,
Barely knowing what to say:
"They'd drive the cows
Along this street
For milking every day..."
Pump up the language!
For audiences of all ages
'Rhythm & Rhyme - With Time for a Song'
Formerly www.ordinarilyspeaking.co.uk