Friday, February 8, 2008

Grammar Lessons

I feel like I have been blogging like crazy lately. Certainly reading and responding to comments has taken up significantly more of my time. Since I am trying to make more room in my life for prayer and reflection during Lent, I am going to tone down the blogging. I'll still be here, and I'll still check in on your blogs. I just won't be writing or commenting as much as I have been these past few weeks. My 100th post is coming up, so keep checking back for some fun way to celebrate that, as well as a book giveaway sometime soon.

In the meantime, I leave you with a grammar lesson from Calvin.

Recently, Calvin has become fond of the construction "I amn't." At first I was correcting him, but then I realized that it made sense in his mind. You aren't. He isn't. We aren't. I amn't. It fits the pattern, anyway. My husband pointed out something that I, being the mountain girl that I am, should have seen. Calvin is just looking for a word that no longer exists in English, a lovely contraction that serves a very important purpose, a word that only the intelligent people of Appalachia and the South have cared to preserve for linguistic geniuses like my son to discover. That's right, folks. I'm talking about the word "ain't." Maybe I'll even teach it to Calvin, and I ain't going to apologize.

5 comments:

Em the luddite said...

...and actually, in the world of Renaissance English literature, just about any contraction imaginable is up for grabs. Calvin would fit right in with me in the world of creative grammar/spelling!

Melissa said...

I'm laughing because my older kid has taken to saying "That just ain't right". Pretty funny.

Nora said...

Too funny. Enjoy your time of reflection!

Farrah said...

"Ain't" is a part of Calvin's culture....he should embrace it. :)

Catherine said...

Funny, I was just last night having a discussion about the historical value of that word...though I'm a very hard sell.

Yes, blogging is very time consuming! It seems so all or nothing - write, respond, read, comment, browse. This currently is my most farrow time since I began two years ago, but its not been intentional. Just...life.