Oh well…I hope this story brings a smile to your face or at least makes you think about the things you say or read.

Over the years, the English language has been altered. Now some people may say it has evolved, but words don’t evolve. Words are words. People may change the meaning of words, but the words themselves can’t do diddily squat.

An example of what I’m trying to say is shown in the last word of the above sentence. Many years ago the word squat meant…it meant…well, you know what it meant! But as time has passed, we have accepted the word as just meaning “a mess” or “trivial.”

I don’t like the way society has changed most words. I was highly offended the other night when watching parts of a talent show on television called American Idol. I personally can only handle parts of the show because some of the people they bring on the show are not representative of my idea of an idol.

One former contestant, now turned star, sang a song that made me turn the television off. She sang a song that carried the lyrics “life s…. without you.” The missing word is the same thing a vacuum cleaner does to dirt on the floor. Well, when I was growing up, it was also a very dirty word used by us nasty-mouthed teenagers. If somebody got mad at somebody else, they told them to…well…never mind.

Anyway, I cut the show off.

Now, consider other things we say or advertise. Have you ever seen a sign for a food product that was advertised as “fresh?” “We have fresh bread for sale.” “We have fresh barbeque.” “We have fresh vegetables.” Everything is advertised as fresh.

Now let me ask you a question. Why does it have to be advertised as fresh? What if the sign just said bread for sale or barbecue for sale? Would people still buy it? When does the word fresh stop and the word stale start? We surely would not advertise stale bread for sale. How about a sign that showed “hurry in for your plate full of our stale barbeque!”

How about the names of some business locations? I saw one advertised the other day that was named “The Secret Garden.” Whoopee! Am I the only one who knows this place of business is a secret? If it’s a secret and we know about it, is it still a secret? When is the “Secret Garden” no longer a secret?

How about places like “The Lost River?” Is the river really lost? If it is lost and now found, how can we still call it lost? Can a river ever get lost? Can you imagine hollering at a river, “Hey river, where you going?”

“I don’t know, I’m lost,” yells the river!

Don’t you like things that are “new and improved?” I just don’t know if I would ever advertise this. In my mind they are telling us that “our first product wasn’t real good, so we had to do it all over again!”

Do they ever sell the regular stuff that is not as good as the new and improved stuff?

This subject matter will be discussed in great detail this upcoming weekend. I am about to embark on an annual event with family. I’m headed to the ranch with the Osgood Clan. It is a once-a-year event when all the cousins from my Uncle Marvin’s side of the family and my side of the family gather for a men’s weekend at the ranch.

It was my Uncle Marvin that first started me down this trail of wondering why we say and advertise things the way we do. He likes to holler words like “watch your head” and then he moves his head from side to side looking all around trying to find his head to watch. Try it! Can you see your head? No…I don’t mean in a mirror! Can you “watch” your head?

I’m sure that before the weekend, is over all of us will catch ourselves aggravating and teasing each other with this one and many others.

Clifford

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed