If It's Monday ~ It's John Barrowman Time ~!

Two Thousand Ten.

Sigh.

Not Twenty Ten.

Two Thousand Ten.

I know , I know , there will be a lot of the abbreviated version for all those who want it.

I am as guilty as the rest of using various short forms for one thing or another . I've always assumed that it is just another part of growing up in the Military .

You hear letter/phrases a lot.

I really want to break myself of the habit if for no other reason than the simple fact that it is lazy.

Language identifies us in so many ways, as a culture, as a nation and often as a gender.

As someone who studied the English language and who has an abiding love for it, it never really occurred to me until the whole " Twenty Ten vs Two Thousand Ten" semi debate started that I had become sooo lazy about all of it.

Words convey a nuance that cannot be realized in mere abbreviations .

They give information in ways often too subtle to be ignored.

If you have a small child who is still at the non verbal stage, you avidly wait for the moment when they can say their first words, and then pray like hell that the word isn't a dreaded four letter one . You wait until they can tell you that they don't feel good or are happy or proud of what they just did..be it potty training on their own or tying a shoe lace. You want them to make the connection of words to feelings....not OMG LMAO.

Teenagers have their own language for peer usage, which is as it should be. It binds them together in groups in their society and offers the protection of the herd. We certainly did not want out parents to discover the Rosetta stone of our verbiage....it is a right of passage for many of us. Only as we grew and began to see life through more mature eyes did we discover that our parents gave us language and the ability to use it. Comprehension between generations is a wonderful bond and one of those moments where everyone involved is assured of their place in the world . You don't always have to know the language to know when a connection has been made.

New Years is a wonderful time, full of promise and a sort of cosmic do-over where we get to take stock and think about the changes we'd like to make. More often than not, we go a bit overboard with the resolution list and thus set up the expectation of failure.

I choose to not make a list, I rarely do if ever .

I prefer to take it one day at a time and concentrate on the idea that for today, just for today , I will do things that I need to in order to improve my life.....starting with not using abbreviations as often as I have in the past.

Language is a gift we get to open and re-open every day...how nice is that ?

Ciao,

Aunty Pol