Thinking about this logically, it would seem that to be educated one would need to understand some words in the language. Sadly enough, if someone reads something, or hears someone say something, and it seems fuzzy, there is a very good possibility that within that text , or speech, there would be a word that is not properly understood.
The misuse of a word definitely shows that it is not understood. I have found that triage often gets confused with tirade, perhaps because it looks similar.
Common words that get confused:
- your and you’re
- a and an
- solder and sodder
- is and are
- really and rarely
- penal
- pinal (in actual fact, there is no such word – not even in the American Indian languages)
Those are but a few …
Literate is defined as: able to read and write.
We learn a language by partaking in the spoken word; that is to say; that we hear people speak and then figure out what all those words mean, by trial and error, and of course, by asking. Thus we get to speak. Unfortunately that is very limited, as getting to be more accurate about ideas and concepts, is lost to one that cannot read or write. There is a phrase that a friend of mine (Lucas) and I came up with that seemed quite pertinent: The precision of language. For us, this meant that a precision can be achieved in getting an idea, or concept, across to someone else, and this opens the door to communication. To get this precision each word in the sentence/sentences has to be clearly defined.
We have learnt that when we make the sound “blue” it denotes a colour in the colour spectrum – somewhere between purple and green. We therefore AGREE that that sound means that colour. So language can be called AGREEMENT between people of a local region. If people have lost that agreement on what those words mean, then it opens the door to disagreement, and so upsets. We agree on something called an alphabet, and in so doing there is a distinct difference between an “a” and an “e”, as is the difference between a “d” and a “t.” The clue is, really, in the shape of the symbol, or letter. In English and American there are 26 (twenty-six) of these quite distinctive symbols.
The language, then, can be more clearly defined if we agree that each of these symbols has a specific sound in specific circumstances, and when stringing together certain of these symbols in a specific order, we have something called words.
A difficult one to grasp (mostly) are these three words:
- Though [ thoh ] – despite the fact that/ as if
- Through [ throo ] – in at one end, side, or surface and out at the other/ all the way
- Thought [ thawt ] – the past tense and past participle of think
They have similar “looks” yet the pronunciations are vastly different, as are the meanings of each. Others like this are bough, brought, bought.
The correct pronunciation does help to eliminate misunderstandings and disagreements too. This brings to mind the difference between “you’re” and “your”! You’re is a contraction of “you are.” Now compare that to “your” which denotes ownership of some sort. Vastly different! Look how many times a day a disagreement can develop just from these two little words!
What makes American (or American English) hard is that as a people they cannot distinguish between a “d” and a “t.” With this being said; BETTER becomes BEDDER, and if you are unfortunate enough to come from California, it becomes BADDER. And the Californians wonder why most Americans consider them to be a different people. [insert laughter here]
Another one that can lead to confusion is UTTER and UDDER. In America there is no distinctive sound difference between the two words, so it gets quite bizarre when the participle gets to be used – UTTERLY becomes UDDERLY!!! Now there is a reverse vector on this with the sounds of the word that should be SHUDDER, and gets pronounced as SHUTTER! I have heard the word CHATTER used to describe a shuddering sound.
The use of “the” and “a” and “an” seems to confuse many too. “The” is a DEFINITE ARTICLE! What this means is that something very specific is being spoken about as apposed to an INDEFINITE ARTICLE, which is “a” The use of “an” is to help smooth the flow of usage when one is referring to an article that starts with a vowel, and mostly with an “h” too. The opening refers to a very specific opening, and there is no such thing as “a opening” but “AN opening” which means ANY opening, in any place. Many people find the Hawaiian language rather difficult as they use so many vowels strung together, and each has its sound. For example “Oahu” is pronounced [Oh wah oo] these days, but when you speak to a traditional Hawaiian they pronounce it [oh ah hoo]
There is a general rule for the English language that can certainly reduce misunderstandings, and/or disagreements. If there are two consonants in the middle of the word then is becomes a short sound. BeTTer is a good example, and is pronounced [ betə(r) ], as apposed to Peter [ piːtə(r) ]. See the clue? better has two “t’s” and Peter has one. Lever is a tough one on Americans: Since it has ONE “v” it is a longer sound [ lee ver ], whereas in America it is [ leh ver ]. But what about level??? The ending “L” makes it [ leh vil ] Often one can get a clue from the derivation of the word – this means where the word originates from.
A complete misnomer is the word LIBERAL. Many believe it to be some sort of political something, mostly showing something to the left (politically). The derivation of liberal is as follows:
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ORIGIN OF LIBERAL
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Old French, from Latin līberālis “of freedom, befitting the free, honorable,” equivalent to līber “free, open, frank” + -ālis -al1
So a word this old can be twisted to suit a political agenda tends to make me want to throw up a little in my mouth. Left wing politics is in the realm of socialism and communism, not opinion but FACT. Liberalism leans toward less government, and more freedom to live and exist.
Freedom is another trap: one can be free … from something/someone or toward something/someone.
Free from tyranny, free to vote – something of that nature, but to extoll “freedom” by itself is a little weird, since it seems to denote no responsibility. How does one gain freedom from bowel movements? Or freedom from having to sleep? So freedom by itself tends to not mean too much, or it means EVERYTHING. So how in the heck does socialism/communism connect with freedom?
