The power of words

English is the third most common language native language in the world.  It is the most widely used language in the world.  It is the language of Shakespeare, of Dickens, of Tolkien and Austen and Steinbeck and Orwell.  

Wikipedia informs me that a Harvard study in 2010 found the English language to contain 1,022,000 words and to expand at 8,500 words a year. 

My family is English as is my husbands.  I take pride in my nationality.  England has a strong heritage (I’m not saying it was all good, there have been a number of incredibly bleak moments such as that whole colonizing thing we got a bit over excited by) but we’ve had some highs too and we know the meaning of old and of history as good as anybody else in Europe.  And for a little island, the influence our language has had in the current state of the world is quite spectacular.

And so given this amazing history, this huge, expansive language that was the native tongue of some of the world’s greatest authors, how are two of my son’s first words Tesco and Abba?

Where did it all go wrong? Seriously.  I’ve got a BA in History and an MA in International relations from one of the UK’s best universities.  I come from a well read, cultured family. How did this happen. 

Tesco and Abba.  Tesco and Abba.  Really?  Even his requests for me to read excerpts from “Small is Beautiful” or “The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying” aren’t enough to nullify the horror of these being two of his favourite words.  And he’s only 23 months old. 

They say: babies are innocent.  I say: the Western world has no true understanding as to how far its corruption reaches. I am disgusted.

On a happier note, today Alby said “I love Mummy” and “I love Daddy” for the first time ever.  Yes it was spoon fed to him and yes he has no idea what the words mean but that doesn’t stop them from being some of the best words the English language has to offer.