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| Links to 14/31 & the 31 Vibrant Things Launch Post |
I am a sucker for any art that incorporates or emphasizes text—if done subtly, it invites curiosity or boosts the interpretation, or as with these bookends, it invites playfulness.
Fun fact: the word THE is the most common word in the English language. It does a lot of language heavy lifting: it typically announces nouns in sentences, positioning those nouns either before or after the modifying information, such as those revealed in this famous quote from poet Robert Frost, "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."
It seems to me that because it can position persons, places, things and ideas either before or after, the word THE essentially acts as a bookend itself. Whoa, eh? Insert mind-blown emoji here.
If you're also a dork who adores words, you might appreciate this YouTuber, Robwords.
And "the" is a PLEASURE to use -- unlike "le," "la," and "les" in French -- because it is ungendered and works in both singular and plural settings!
ReplyDeleteYes, it's ungendered application is also pretty cool.
DeleteThe guy in Robwords has an amazing voice, kind of like panty remover, I mean gin.
ReplyDeleteI love words too, big surprise, but I don't think cellar door is the most beautiful phrase in the English language. What about, "Hello beautiful", I would prefer that one:)
Where's the "like" button when I need one?
DeleteAh, Pixie. I will take your word for this but I sure enjoyed your comment, lol.
DeleteAlso, if I could, I would second Kate's like.
Weirdly enough, while I do own a neck lamp thingy, I don't have a single bookend to support my many books. I just stack them as tightly as possible within each shelf (or alternately use something heavy, like a decorative glass float (true story).
ReplyDeleteSomeone get you some bookends, stat. Or not, because yes, those work too.
Delete...on our pubic radio years ago there was call in word show, by researched the origin words. It was interesting.
ReplyDeleteEtymology is fascinating! I was a teenager when I learned the origin of the word gymnasium, lol.
DeleteOh Pixie made me laugh but also makes me what to hear this panty remover.
ReplyDeletePixie is indeed one of a kind...perhaps this inspired her next blog post?
DeleteOh my, I covet those bookends. I have, yes, lots but one can never have too many. (The language nerd inserted 'enough' there. snicker.) They need to work, though. Light ones that fall over are banished to the paperback shelves.
ReplyDeleteSnicker is itself a pretty great word...it says it all fellow language nerd. Yes, hefty bookends need apply for the job.
DeleteWell I am not too convinced of the beauty of 'cellar door" but words are fun. There was once a podcast called 'A Way with Words' which we listened to on longer trips back when we took longer trips. I am sure they are still online. From NPR, I think.
ReplyDeleteI'm not entirely convinced either...what would you choose instead?
DeleteWe're still on! https://waywordradio.org. Also, I wrote about the supposed beauty of "cellar door" and similar lexical items in the New York Times some years ago: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/magazine/14FOB-onlanguage-t.html
DeleteOf course you know you are spoiling us with these frequent posts. We'll expect you to keep it up.
ReplyDeleteHa. You give me too much credit. This a temporary exercise in discipline during a month I want to remember always.
DeleteI got rid of the majority of my books when I moved. What's left is held up by one half of one set of bookends.
ReplyDeleteBrave. I'll get there, fingers crossed.
DeleteI have 2 gargoyle bookends. I love gargoyles.
ReplyDeleteThey're pretty fascinating; in particular I remember the ones on the exterior of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.
DeletePixie's comment sure made me smile. I don't think cellar door is the most beautiful, but I did enjoy the video link. Maybe a British accent makes it sound better. I actually googled "what is the most beautiful sounding word in the English language" and "cellar door" did come up. But also a bunch of other words such as tranquility.
ReplyDeleteTranquility makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? I must say love almost all words but some are indeed quite special, like serendipity.
DeleteSerendipity was also a word that came up when I found the word tranquility.
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