34 thoughts on “Haiku #24”

  6. Spring is springing. Seeing your “grey” reminded me when I was looking for linguistics conferences around the world, I came across one conference that the guidelines caught my eye. It said choose your language and stick to it. It expressly forbade the mixing of American and British English.

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      1. I figured as much. “You gotta keep them separated” is grammar Nazism to the max. I can understand in high school you might want to make sure writers know the peculiarities between British and American spellings, but I would assume anyone advanced enough to submit a paper to a conference would know the difference and their use of both types of spellings would be purposeful and have a reason related to their paper topic.

        Making separation of spelling a requirement makes me think about people who say English should be made the official language of the USA. When I come across these people I ask “Which English do we make official?” The current English after the great vowel shift with all the weird spellings that don’t match the pronunciations? Furthermore, the current English is chock full of foreign words and phrases.

        Or do we go back to Middle English before the great vowel shift? At least spelling and pronunciation will be more closely aligned. However, there are still a lot of foreign words, especially French words, after 1066 and all that.

        Therefore, I suggest the purest form of English would be to go back to Old English around the time of Beowulf, and throw out all those pesky foreign words and phrases the English language has accumulated over the years. Like the current movement in public education to make math easier, Old English would fit right in since spelling was not uniform and there was little punctuation, although verbs could still prove to be a bit difficult.

        Not surprising, most to the grammar Nazi, “make English official” oficianados I run across have never heard of the great vowel shift, the battle of Hastings/Norman conquest or Beowulf.

        Personally, I like having all them there foreign words at my disposal.

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        1. Agreed! Astute observations, Tim. This kind of tyrannical behavior is why there’s so much slang to play around with. People instinctively know language is a living thing, not a tool of oppression. Tower of Babel metaphor ring a bell?

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  7. You have captured the essence of transitions. There is an in-between time where we have difficulty letting go of the past even as we see the promise of the present and future. Emotions are mixed when there are goodbyes. We need to feel the browns and greys while we wait for the ascent of greens. The poem/photo connection is brilliant.

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    1. Thank you, Rebecca! Those old leaves, once green and then richly other colored in Autumn, will wash away down stream and provide nourishment to a new generation of green things. Nothing is wasted in God’s creation except opportunities.

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      1. I can always count on you to give me a thought for the coming week. That last sentence gave me goosebumps! “Nothing is wasted in God’s creation except opportunities.” May we recognize and embrace these opportunities. Sending hugs

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  13. Pingback: Micro-Season: “Plants Show Their First Buds” (2023) — Naturalist Weekly – THE WOUND THAT HEALS

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