Childhood Memory — the day I learnt about ‘ing’
I have to admit that I do like words and I do like using elaborate words to describe things that I see — in fact many might say that if waffle was a sport I would be an Olympian!
However, my epoch moment in words came the day when my Primary School Teacher, Mrs Brown, introduced adding ‘ing’ to the limited vocabulary that I had at that time!
Oh my days (as old people say trying desperately to seem younger) all of a sudden the world changed! No longer did I just walk, I now could write about walking! Where as before I had been for a run I could now describe myself running — my teacher, who I now could see as teaching, had changed my writing forever and my life as a result!
Rhyming couplets in poetry got so much easier and a myriad of my attempts at verse now used ‘ing’ extensively — it might of sounded awful but the Teacher’s brief to make the second and fourth line rhyme was not now an issue!
It still amazes me that this incident was over 50 years ago and yet I still remember the awe and excitement that this produced. There is the route of what stimulated me to want to write and to keep hunting for the words that would make others imagine and dream for themselves.
In fairness I have quickly got used to adding ‘ing’ and the thrill isn’t quite the same now but when asked to recall significant parts of my childhood this has to stand out as a key moment. It truly was the first time I knew I loved words.
In the Bible, Proverbs 12:18 — words are described as having the ability to heal or harm in that they can cut to the bone when used harshly and save a life when used well. Doesn’t it make sense to develop our skill to use them?
Nowadays, words are cut to ribbons by text talk and the like — expressions meaning one thing now mean something completely different — apparently replying to a text message with the word ‘sick’ means that you quite like what was being suggested!
TBH (look at me getting all street) I am ‘stoked’ (there I go again!) about the use of acronyms. LOL, GSOH, WLTM, I can list a few, I actually mean that’s all I can list! There is nothing wrong with shortening words but sometimes it just strikes me as lazy. The less we communicate the more we seem to struggle — generations get further apart because in truth we end up speaking different languages.
My crusade, I know, will be my own but whilst I have moving fingers on the keyboard I will do all I can to keep searching for the right words and keep trying to stimulate others to imagine themselves in the story I am telling. I will do all I can to continue making good use of ‘ing’. Thank you Mrs Brown — you did me proud!