Language

Friday 27th August 2021

Language

I have a great passion for language – origins, meanings and uses in different circumstances.  I don’t think this will come as a surprise.  words shift and change their meanings over time, too.  We might love this, we might hate it, we might get angry about it; but one thing is certain, we can’t stop it nor manage it.

Certain words have always existed to insult and denigrate, these are, nevertheless, an important feature of our language.  But these days, many words and phrases are being created and used deliberately, rather than by chance, to divide us.  Debate, in which language should come into its own, is being shut down.  Speakers, thinkers, writers are being silenced; they fear they will bring down upon themselves a spiteful social media storm for daring to speak their minds.  

Language is being perverted from a means of opening up discussion to a means of oppression and censorship.

A worrying trend we must work against with all our might.

I have tried to express these views in one way or another in several poems.  One of these is this month’s featured poem, Swords, Words, Explosive Devices.

What I’m Up To

I’m in the early stages of developing two podcast ideas; one is on poetry writing the other on living and working with sight loss.  More about these as they develop.

Reading

I’m continuing my way through War and Peace, by Tolstoy. It’s truly astounding writing.  I’m going to have to put some big blocks of time to completing it.  I don’t want it to hang around or become a task, it’s far too good for that.

Final Thoughts

Next update will be Friday 24th September.  In the meantime, check out my Tuesday poems on twitter and Weekly tips on Instagram.

Best wishes and thanks.