OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF THE BRITS
COMPILATION AND COMMENTARY
BY LUCY WARNER
FEBRUARY 18, 2019


SEE THIS WORD FROM THE MUSIC OF “MY FAIR LADY,” AND THE DELIGHTFULLY FUNNY WISDOM OF GEORGE BERNARD SHAW IN “PYGMALION”: FROM THE WISDOM OF ‘ENRY ‘IGGINS, “IT’S EEU AND GARN THAT KEEP HER IN HER PLACE, NOT HER WRETCHED CLOTHES AND DIRTY FACE!” IN THE SPECIFIC CASE OF “GARN,” WE CAN BLAME THAT, APPARENTLY, ON THE VIKINGS. MANY TIMES WHEN I WOULD ASK HOW TO SPELL A WORD, MY MOTHER WOULD SAY “LOOK IT UP IN THE DICTIONARY.”

I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH HOW IMPORTANT A HABIT OF DOING THAT IS TO THE FORMATION OF YOUR CHILD’S ABILITY TO READ, SPELL AND UNDERSTAND WORDS, WITH EASE AND ABSOLUTE JOY. YOU WON’T HAVE TO SCREAM AT YOUR CHILD TO READ HIS ASSIGNMENTS IF THE WHOLE FAMILY WOULD APPROACH LEARNING IN THAT WAY. ALSO, IT IS MY PERSONAL BELIEF THAT IT IS INDEED “EEU AND GARN” THAT KEEP US IN OUR PLACE. SEEING THE AFROCENTRIC WORDS AS A PIDGEN OR MERGED LANGUAGE IS CORRECT, BUT TEACHING THEM IN SCHOOL IN PLACE OF STANDARD ENGLISH IS A GRAVE ERROR. THEY WILL LEARN THE ETHNIC WORDS AT HOME. LEARNING HOW TO BLEND IN WITH THE OUTSIDE CULTURE IS THAT LITTLE BIT MORE IMPORTANT. LEARNING OUR FAMILY’S WAY OF SPEAKING AND LANGUAGE BACKGROUND IS VERY IMPORTANT, BUT WE DESPERATELY NEED BOTH. THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGE IS A FRAMEWORK UPON WHICH TO BUILD THE NEW.

MY WESTERN PIEDMONT NORTH CAROLINA WORDS WHICH CAME FROM MY PARENTS ARE BLESSED TO ME. THAT’S A TASTE OF HOME, LIKE MOM’S FRIED CHICKEN, BUT EXPANDING IT TO THE RELATED SOUNDS AND MEANINGS FROM STANDARD ENGLISH CAN ONLY IMPROVE THE STUDENT. SO, WHEN THEY FACE A COMPLICATED AND UNFAMILIAR TERM OR WORD, THEY WILL ACQUIRE THE HABIT OF TACKLING IT THEMSELVES RATHER THAN ASKING FOR HELP UNLESS THEY ABSOLUTELY CAN’T FIGURE IT OUT. BREAK IT UP INTO SYLLABLES AND LOOK THEM UP, ESPECIALLY THE “ROOT WORD,” OR “LEMMA.” THE SKILLS OF SPELLING AND READING AREN’T NEARLY AS DIFFICULT, IF WE WILL EXAMINE AND ANALYZE THE WORD. LOOK UP THE FIRST AND LAST SYLLABLES AS WELL, BECAUSE THEY INDICATE VARIATIONS ON THE MEANING. FOR INSTANCE, THE WORD “PRE” MEANS “BEFORE,” SO A “PREFIX” IS THE FIRST SYLLABLE. A SMALL UNFAMILIAR WORD ISN’T NEARLY AS INTIMIDATING AS A LARGE UNFAMILIAR WORD.

ALSO, THAT METHOD OF DEALING WITH WORDS CREATES LOGIC AND UNDERSTANDING RATHER THAN USING FRUSTRATING AND INTIMIDATING MEMORIZATION, OR SIMPLE “SEE-SAY,” PRONUNCIATION SKILLS. THE SEE-SAY TEACHING METHOD CAME INTO BEING IN AN EFFORT TO HELP KIDS READ FASTER, BUT IT ABSOLUTELY DISCOMBOBULATES THEIR ABILITY TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY ARE READING. TO ME, THAT TEACHING METHOD GETS A FLAT “F.” READ WELL FIRST, AND READING RAPIDLY WILL FOLLOW. ALL OF THE SPEED-READING COURSES PUSH THE EYES TO TAKE IN LARGER NUMBERS OF WORDS AT ONE VIEWING AND DO IT FASTER AS TIME GOES ON, BUT IN THE END, READING FAST IS NOT NEARLY AS IMPORTANT AS READING WITH UNDERSTANDING. MY MOTTO IS, “LEARN TO READ AND READ TO LEARN.” IF A CHILD – OR AN ADULT -- ISN’T DOING THAT, THEY WILL BE LOSING GROUND RATHER THAN GAINING. REMEMBER THE GREAT OLD STORY BY AESOP, THE CLASSICAL GRECIAN PHILOSOPHER CALLED “THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE.” THAT IS AN IMPORTANT FIRST READER FOR YOUR CHILD, BY THE WAY, “AESOP’S FABLES,” AND MAKES A GREAT BEDTIME STORY, AS THEY ARE FABULOUSLY ENTERTAINING. YOU CAN FIND IT IN ANY LIBRARY OR BOOKSTORE. OF COURSE, DR. SEUSS’ “HOP ON POP” OR “GREEN EGGS AND HAM,” ARE GREAT FOR HAVING FUN, BUT AESOP IS BETTER FOR LEARNING, AND FULL OF IMPORTANT WISDOM – ALSO IMPORTANT FOR THE CHILD. A CONCEPT WILL BE LEARNED RATHER THAN A SEE-SAY MEMORY. THAT DOES MORE THAN JUST LEARNING A NEW WORD. IT CREATES A NEW LINK TO HOOK MORE KNOWLEDGE ONTO.

IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGLISH CLASS WILL LEAD TO IMPROVEMENTS IN OTHER SUBJECTS VERY QUICKLY. IN OUR SCHOOLS THE LEARNING OF MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE IS OFTEN STRESSED, BUT WITHOUT THE LANGUAGE SKILLS THE CHILD WILL BE LESS ABLE TO PROCESS NEW SCIENCE READING. SO, EVEN IF A HOUSEHOLD HAS NO COMPUTER, WHICH CAN BE EXPENSIVE, THEY CAN PURCHASE A USED COLLEGIATE LEVEL DICTIONARY, PERHAPS BY MERRIAM-WEBSTER, AND TACKLE MANY OTHER SUBJECTS AT THE SAME TIME. WHEN YOU COME TO A WORD IN THE DICTIONARY THAT YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND, IMMEDIATELY LOOK THAT ONE UP ALSO. INSTEAD OF JUST LEARNING ONE WORD, YOU WILL HAVE LEARNED HALF A DOZEN OR MORE. WHILE YOU’RE IN THE DICTIONARY, LOOK UP THE PRONUNCIATION ALSO. I NOTICE GOOGLE SOURCES OFTEN GIVE A SOUND DEVICE FOR THE SPEAKERS, WHICH CAN BE CLICKED TO PRODUCE A RECORDING OF IT.

SO, “EEUH AND GARN,” WHAT SORT OF WORDS ARE THEY? LOOK IT UP! I FOUND NOTHING FOR the EEUH, BUT I THINK “OH,” IS LIKELY.

“GARN” -- https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gearn

gearn

Old English
Etymology
From Proto-Germanic *garną, whence also Old Saxon garn, Old High German garn, Old Norse garn. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰorn-, *ǵʰer- (“tharm, gut, intestine”).

Pronunciation
IPA(key): /jæɑrn/
Noun
ġearn n

yarn
Descendants
Middle English: yarn, garn
English: yarn
Scots: yairn

Categories: Old English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic Old English terms derived from Proto-Germanic Old English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European Old English terms with IPA pronunciation Old English lemmas Old English nouns


WHAT IS “LEMMA OR LEMMAS?”

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Lemmas

Wiktionary:Lemmas

When a word has multiple distinct forms, the lemma is the main entry at which the definitions, etymology, inflections and such are placed. All other forms of the word are non-lemma forms, and the entries for these forms generally only contain a link to the lemma form. For example, walk is the lemma of an English verb (the "bare infinitive"—"to walk" without the "to"), while walked is a non-lemma form. Lemmas and non-lemma forms are categorized differently: Category:English lemmas for lemma forms and Category:English non-lemma forms for non-lemma forms; likewise for other languages.

EUH, GARN! IS IT REALLY BEDTIME AGAIN? GOODNIGHT, THEN.