Bubble and Billow, Woohoo and Yippee. Some words are just fun to say.

Bubbles, tiny bubbles!

Every language has fun little words. In English, there's "bubble." Just saying it brings a smile to your face, and memories of younger days to your mind. But, it's more than that. The word itself is fun. Not like "coal" or "garden." Fine words they are, but there is something special about "bubble." How about "billow" or shouts of acclimation such as "woohoo" or "yippee!" There's lots of others, but these four always bring a chuckle and a grin.

Language is an oddly comforting ability. On one hand it's a method of necessary communication, blunt and to the point, and on the other it's poetry and song. People can play language as if it were a fine instrument, plucking heartstrings as they tickle our ears. It's interesting how specific language, such as Eskimos having many words for "snow." Depending on the culture and environment, the language is fine tuned to fit the culture. After all, how important would words for waterfalls be in a place with nearly zero rain?

I think it's a real tragedy that most people have a fairly limited vocabulary. There are such wonderful words, with precise meanings and nuances. Using words effectively is like playing a symphony, picking and choosing the meanings you want with the barest essentials. One fun game to play is to pick an unusual word and inject it into casual conversation. Nothing like saying, "Well, for verisimilitude's sake, I'd do the opposite." Tee hee. Funny stuff.

- M

Phrases and words no longer used or completely lost.

Ever heard the phrase: look a gift horse in the mouth? Or what about: down to brass tacks. Feel free to search them (in common language, the first means take a gift without examining it for flaws, while the other means you have nothing left). My point is that these lost favor with the English population long ago due to the fact that they reference common situations that no longer have any bearing with modern living. Phrases are like that--they change, grow and evolve.

I'm reminded of an excellent episode from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Captain Pickard gets stranded on a planet with an alien he wants to make a treaty with, but there is no common language or magical universal translator (a silly concept anyway, so the writers had to make sure the good Captain couldn't have one). The episode is called, "Darmok." The fun thing is that the alien uses a language built entirely of phrases like the ones I used before. As an audience, we learn along with the Captain as these two disparate races learn to communicate. It's a fascinating idea, and I wish I saw it used more often.

The phrases we use now will eventually die and fall from use. When people dig up the things of this current culture, they won't have any concept of why these things mattered to us. Imagine how confused a future human will be when they see comedians and parodies ... well, because we all know future people have absolutely no sense of humor at all, right?

- M

Fictional languages

J.R.R. Tolkien created a whole raft of made up languages for his books. Incredible. Star Trek invented Klingon. Uber fans have learned to speak them. One of my favorite movies is Stargate (the one with Kurt Russell) which recreated the ancient Egyptian language of hieroglyphics as a spoken language (I'm astonished by the result, as it feels and sounds real). What makes all this so amazing is that by using linguistic methods and a lot of imagination, people are creating new languages that aren't only varieties of human but varieties of alien. I find that remarkable.

Sometimes I wonder where the limits of human creation are? Do we even have them? And if we do, then how will we ever know we've reached them?

I read in the news that people are protesting the creation of more powerful artificial intelligence, on the basis that we don't want a robot uprising. Seriously, these people aren't freaks at all, but highly educated and intelligent scientists (I think they're nuts, but they are smart). Look at the advances in genetics, or space exploration. We are pushing the limits of reality with our creativity. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest to find out we've manufactured micro black holes that allows the manufacture of transparent aluminum (geek test there).

But, language is a basic human concept and we continue to make new strides. Incredible. Just imagine what the next ten years will bring!

- M

Epicness, what is it really? And, why do words change meaning?

We are living through a trend of epic stuff lately. Epic movies, epic music, epic stories, epic lives. But, what is it really? The dictionary puts it down as: heroic, majestic, impressive, spectacular, or unusual size or extent. Not much help for the modern trend. I'd say that the way it's used these days is to describe anything with bombast, aplomb, or just hyped up. Epic has turned into slang for anything that people really like.

Our English language adapts, changes, and evolves with use. I've shed many tears over words that have terrific meanings but have either fallen from common use, or changed far beyond their original meanings. It's a shame, but I do understand why it happens. Still, a word like "epic" loosing its focus and becoming a synonym for "like" makes me sad. Words have more than meaning, they have flavor and subtlety that makes them special. Imagine the word "tender" becoming another word for "good"? However, the language continues growing and words come about to fill the gaps.

One thing that will help in this area is for people to improve their vocabularies. The average adult has a woefully small vocabulary. It's sad, truly sad, that adults don't pick up dictionaries every now and again and look up a better word. We teach our children to read, use the language properly, and tell them to use proper grammar. When was the last time we did the same? Does learning stop at adulthood? It shouldn't.

So, get out there and learn a new word!

- M