Pictures of the skirt

Beverly, you might also think about doing a blog, because supposedly it's a lot easier than doing a whole web page.

I would give that serious consideration if I didn't have such a visceral reaction to the neologism "blog"... ;-}

Go ahead, call me old-fashioned...

Beverly, whose spellchecker also choked on "blog"...

Yes, so you're old-fashioned. Something wrong with that? I'm right with you. No matter how many times I'm told what the origin of the word "blog" is, I just can't seem to wrap my mind around it. I guess it's a generational thing. I'm a word oriented person, and that word just doesn't fit into my vocabulary. (BTW, I DO like the word "neologism" and wish I could have the opportunity to use it!) Liz

Nope, not that I can see. ;-)

IMHO, all of the text messaging, Instant Messaging, and the like are damaging *written* English, i.e. "My smmr hols wr CWOT. B4, we used 2go2 NY 2C my bro, his GF & thr 3 :- kids FTF. ILNY, it's a gr8 plc." (In translation: "My summer holidays were a complete waste of time. Before, we used to go to New York to see my brother, his girlfriend and their three screaming kids face to face. I love New York. It's a great place.")

I still actually "talk" on the phone, I don't for the life of me understand the need for "texting".

You may have it! I could not instantly recall the word I wanted to use. It took me several minutes of accessing my "RAM" (my brain) to remember it. The older I get,

;-}

Beverly

There's nothing wrong with coining a new word for a new thing.

But you could build a Live Journal instead.

Joy Beeson

I think of blogs as places where people with nothing to say can say it.

However, I do have several bookmarked -- ones belonging to friends, and to people who *do* have something to say. I have a problem with the notion of the technology of the year, or the month. That being said, I have a blog somewhere - untended - a page on Facebook, use AIM, have a cell phone but do not text, and sometimes I think that I would go into withdrawals without this computer.

I would say to look at some blogs, trying very hard to ignore the name "blog" and see if that would suit your needs. The technology is very easy, especially to add and update, plus it archives for you.

Yeah, wot she said! OTOH, word shorthand is spreading it's tentacles far and wide, IYSWIM! :-)

Whilst I am reasonably techno-literate (now there's a neologism!), I have no idea how to send a text from my mobile 'phone!

I am cursed with a memory that retains odd words and phrases that I've heard or read over the years and can never find a reason to bring into a conversation. How can you weave a conversation around 'chalybeate' or 'omphaloskepsis'. Actually that last one does occasionally get used in the odd NG discussion from time to time! I could go on but that would be boring.

My home page is 'one look' dictionary search

I enjoy looking at the blogs of other crafters to see what other people are making and to pick up hints & tips. I have little interest in those that seem to say the same nothings that we are told about by the media (print,screen and radio) on a regular basis.

Lizzy

As a substitute teacher I sometimes get asked, "Why do you use such weird words?"

I tell them it's like the difference between the eight-pack of fat crayons and the sixty four-pack. If I have something I'm trying to convey and there's a word that means exactly what I want, why wouldn't I use that one word instead of getting halfway there with a whole string of sentences? And even if you're not sure what I mean you can always ask and I'll explain it and you'll have a brand new crayon in your box.

I just can't imagine a situation where I'd need to "text," but my adult kids consider it a perfectly normal practice. Where did I go wrong???

As for blogs, the only one I regularly read and participate in is a political one. An old friend had started an e-mail chain among like-thinking family and acquaintances, challenging us to pick the winner of the different states' primaries, and with prizes given to the winner. This eventually evolved into lengthy political discussions, pro and con, and his son therefore started a blog so his work e-mailbox wouldn't get so full. I must admit that I find it quite addictive and it's the first thing I read every morning!

Liz

Wow, that's great idea to get children interested in language! I'll have to remember that if my DD ever comes up with a question like that. Fortunately, she seems quite interested in speaking, yesterday she had a spoon in her little fist, stuffed it into her little mouth and - I swear she said 'spoon'! (In German it's 'Löffel', easier to say perhaps, but anyway, she's still so young and is 'telling stories' all the time.)

However, I'm well aware that at home is the place where education starts and therefore my husband and I are trying to use better language in her presence. Since my husband is in the construction business (and I don't mean architect ;-)) he uses sometimes rather crude language. Moreover, he never was too good at spelling or grammar (maths and science, that's his scene). On the other hand, my parents are both teachers, so I didn't even speak the regional slang/dialect until some of my high school friends encouraged me to do so, to fit in better, you know. ;-) I remind him to speak properly whenever he uses a particularly bad phrase, but I find that my speach has 'deteriorated' a good deal, too, since my days in the cabinetmaker's workshop. Gotta try, and try again, hasn't one? ;-)

U.

You can rely on your angelic daughter repeating the worst phrase your husband (or you) ever utter. It might take that to convince your husband to clean up his act around the little one. ;-) They're great little mimics, and unerringly choose just what you don't want them to copy, and repeat it over and over. They love the reaction. It makes for great anecdotes, especially when the little one gets to be about 17 or 18 years old, and can be embarrassed by such family tales.

Read to her. At this stage it doesn't matter much exactly what you're reading to her, you're teaching her the rhythms and cadences of speech. I read all of "Dances With Wolves" to my daughter while I was home on maternity leave after her birth. My son (age 13) still wheedles for reading. We're working our way through my Terry Pratchett library.

When my kids had ear infections, being held and read to was a great way to distract them from their misery while waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in (ear cupping helps, too but it makes it hard to turn the pages). On one occasion my two-year-old daughter wanted me to read the Foster and Smith pet supply catalog to her. So I did.

Oh, do tell!

Early home years have a huge and long-lasting effect on language development. I was dragged round by the RAF and went to school all over the place, so never had a regional accent after I started school (before that it was faintly Scots, a mix of Fife and Edinburgh, where each parent came from: I STILL don't hear Sean Connery's 'accent' - he sounds just like Dad did!).

The parents were both well educated (Dad went to Edinburgh university and then trained as a teacher), read a great deal, and used a very wide vocabulary. They talked TO us and WITH us all the time, and never pulled punches with the language: long and difficult or esoteric words were to be used, played with, and even mangled in fun.

On the other hand I *was* exposed to many local dialects and their interesting vocabulary and grammatical differences, and spent some time at school with a number of Naval ratings kids... The result is that there were VERY few obscene expressions and words that I had not heard and didn't know the meaning of by the time I was 11! *BUT* I'd also grown an instinct about where it was *NOT* appropriate to use them! ;)

Kids love words, love using words, and need to be fed vast numbers of them. It's very noticeable when they get to school which kids have joined in family conversations all the time and which kids have been parked in front of the telly and told to go away and play when the adults were talking. Some never really catch up.

Err, so is there another meaning in your part of the world to the phrase 'in the cabinetmaker's workshop'. In my innocence I thought you'd had an unusual start for your working life....... :-)

Oh, I don't know if it was so unusual, after all, those were the 80s and we were all so emancipated that you'd be looked at very strangely if you had 'raising a family' among your life aims and typical feminine jobs were definitely looked down on (I'm still a bit uncertain about what is typically feminine, although I'm pretty sure that typically male is standing while you p... ;-)

Anyway, since I was an apprentice in the municipal workshop of one of the Ruhr area's cities, we used to be unencumbered by such minor trivialities as rentability etc. and thus were a merry lot that had one or another party on other than official occasions like Christmas in the workshop, the boss not knowing or turning a blind eye as long as nothing happened. My friend was an apprentice in the local theatre and we'd see eachother every week at vocational school and exchange goss... I mean, important information. She was what you'd call life of the party and could drink quite a lot, although she tended to act rather peculiar under influence. But that's another story.

Nobody cared about PC (not even we did) and the break room was plasterd with interesting prints of the female anatomy. We just turned to be as sexist as the guys were and didn't feel too bad, after all, nobody would harm us. Words would fly and it sharpened my wit and tongue considerably. And one or the other kiss might have been exchanged on those parties, but it was mostly fun and laughing about absurd things (I wish I could remeber what we laughed about...). Well, I learned to dish out in the regional slang then, and never quite found back to the German equivalent of Oxford English, which is a pity. A funny thing: if I have to deal with posh folks that turn up their nose on me for whatever reason, I tend to slip into my worst dialect possible if I don't pay attention.

Uh, I'm not sure if that novel answered your question, and I'm dead sure that it's miles OT, but fortunately, nobody here will tell you off for it. ;-)

U.

Rumour has it, even that is under threat these days! :-)

'S funny. As someone who was born and bred in Oxford, I can put on the very best accent if the occasion demands, although increasingly, I find such an accent quite pretentious.

I find myself increasingly happy with a mixture of rural dialects from around the UK. I'm told I normally speak with a pronounced 'west country' accent, although I've never lived there, and now that we live in Norfolk, I find I'm picking up some bits of the rural Norfolk dialect.

OTOH, I can be very pedantic about written English......

Thanks, it did. My curiosity was aroused when you mentioned the cabinet maker's workshop. Now I understand (I think!). :-)