Three cheers for English!

Wait a minute--the Official Scrabble Dictionary is on line? After I bought two copies already? Oh wait--you have to look up single words. Kathy's mom (who died a year ago) was a ninety year old Scrabble fan. I used to play her sometimes and get a kick out of her "words" like "VA" for Veterans Administration. Of course it's an abbreviation, but in her generation it was a very important "word." So I let her get away with it.

We used to independently search our Official Scrabble Dictionaries (her with a big print version, mine in a paperback) looking for lists of two and three letter words we could spring on each other. My favorite? “Qat”—no ‘u’ needed—woo hoo!

A certain sibling used to play with her brother, but didn’t tell him what the colored squared meant. She denies this, of course, but he wondered why she consistently outscored him.

Growing up, our family played and I think it all contributed to our love of language. My one sister writes amazing letters about her experiences in a Boston medical clinic—I think she ought to put them in a book. My brother is president of a publishing company (Thieme.com). My mom was a newspaper reporter, and a book editor. She finally got her name on a book, “The Family Bible Study Book”(I and II) and a book about Vance Havner published by Revell. I am very proud of my own book, “Careers in Action”.

So yes, language is very important to me. Sadly, I can completely relate to the rantings of Lynne Truss in her book “Eats Shoots and Leaves.” Anyone who cares about English and its (possessive!) wonderful idiosyncratic rules and yes, Mirty, spellings, ought to have ESL on his or her shelf (darn that number agreement requirement!).