Tag Archives: language
FMM 6 6 2025 Todo el mundo Bailando!
“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.” ~ Albert Einstein. I heard yesterday that there is a type of English known as ‘Miami English’. Unlike Spanglish, which freely mixes the two languages, switching mid-sentence from one to the other and then back, Miami English is predominantly […]
FMM 9 27 2024 How Very Dare You?
‘Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow.’ ~ Helen Keller. When my children were little, their altered understanding of common phrases or things became our name for them. The Hard Rock Stadium was erected a short distance from our home, and in its first naming was the Joe Robbie Stadium. […]
FMM 11 24 2023 The Luxury of Language
“Sell a country?! Why not sell the air, the great sea, as well as the earth? Did not the Great Spirit make them all for the use of his children?” ~ Tecumseh. The celebration of Thanksgiving always leaves me conflicted. Who can possibly object to the concept of being thankful, of declaring appreciation for all […]
FMM 9 8 2023 ‘Don’t be so puerile!’
“Life may have plans that will completely overthrow your pettiness.” ~ Jeetendra. I learned to read when I was very young but of course I would stumble against unusual words. For some reason I can remember learning to say the alphabet in phonetic style rather than naming the letters, so that one day I was […]
FMM 7 3 2020 Raw Soul
“To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.” ~ Frederick Douglass. Upstate New York is an idyllic place, a place of woods and hills and dappled light. There are place names that reveal the original owners of the land, along with […]
FMM 12 13 19 Gobsmacked
“He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good.” ~ Confucius. One of the things about growing up a Preacher’s Kid (PK as they say in the US) is that you are always having to watch what you say. Not just what you say, but how you say it. In […]
FMM 7 26 19 Don’t get it Twisted
“The finest language is mostly made up of simple unimposing words.” ~ George Eliot. “Farmer Jones walked up the path, drunk as usual.” I have never forgotten that line, the opening line to a book thrust into my hands when I was maybe eight years old. I had just started school in the hills of […]
FMM 2 23 18 Upcycling
“We should give meaning to life, not wait for life to give us meaning ”~Stacy. At the end of a long week, one which challenged me and my team professionally, I am waking up still drained, so I have dipped into my recycling bin for this week’s message. Once, driving through the beautiful Blue Mountains […]
FMM 10 27 17 Points of Light
“People find meaning and redemption in the most unusual human connections.”~ Khaled Hosseini. Language is a tricky thing. Even when you think you speak the same language, words may have very different interpretations. People from the English-speaking world have to learn to avoid saying ‘football’ when in America. If you live in the US, although […]
FMM 4 14 17 It Coulda Worse!
“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.”~Denis Waitley. They say travel broadens the mind. There is something about experiencing a place, a people and a culture far different to the one you are familiar with that helps to open […]
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