What’s happened to our vocabulary? It took some comic books from the 1960s and 1970s and a Nancy Drew novel from that era to hammer home the point that in four decades we seem to have lost a huge chunk of the English language. My daughter was home sick. Typically, she’d turn on the television and enter the monosyllabic land …
The meaning of oral
What’s with the oral fixation? Any parent with a child in Grade 4 and up is currently facing the dreaded oral presentation unit of the class curriculum. For the Grade 4s it is destined to be three to five minutes of their best knee-knocking, voice-quivering speech in front of the class, with no props or visual aids. My concern is …
There is power and magic in language, so use it responsibly
Language is often paired with words like “evoke” or “bewitch” with its ability to “cast spells” over us. It can make us laugh, cry, love, hate, run, stay, fight, give in, believe, distrust, move or stop. Yes, there is magic and power in language. There is power in what is said and what’s left unsaid. It can reveal or conceal …