More Random Memories

stirred up by Harry Reid.

We all tend to talk like the folk who were around when we were learning to talk. It's a hard habit to break.

Johnny Robinson, the great free safety of the Kansas City Chiefs back in the 1970s, once told me that some of his black teammates tried very hard to avoid using any speech habits of their youth. But in a sideline interview with a roving reporter they often, in the excitement of the game, let their guard down and spoke as they had spoken as a child. Later they would see a replay and beat their head against the wall.

I once had a business colleague, a bright, successful guy who, when relating an earlier incident, often said "we was...". That always shocked me a bit.

My son, a professor at a large Texas University is raising four small daughters. Though born in four different states, they are now all growing up to be - Surprise! Surprise! - Texans. On a recent visit, his six-year-old rushed in to say, "Dad... we were fixin' to...". Before I had time to recognize what she had said, her father interrupted, "Don't say fixin'!" In Texas, if you were or are planing to do something, it is quite normal to say fixin' to do it!

Reminds me of the time when my wife and I, seeking to escape from business pressures, moved to a small farm near a tiny Missouri town. After a few months in a small, country school, our oldest boy, then about eight, excitedly told us of something he brang home from school. Hey, Neil Diamond even used that term in the lyric of a song!

MIT professor, Steven Pinker, wrote words to the effect that "If I say something, and you clearly understand the meaning of what I said, our language is good... language czars notwithstanding." Dr. Pinker... I heartily agree.

Same goes for punctuation and sentence structure. In the mid 20th century, there was a radio personality named Arthur Godfrey. One of Godfrey's trademarks was singing original songs with outrageous or demeaning lyrics. Songs like "Slap 'er Down Again, Pa!" Or, "She's Too Fat For Me". Once I played one of his records on the air, then spent a moment making fun of his mispronunciations and poor choice of words. Next day I received a card from a listener, listing a lot of words I had mispronounced or improperly used that same day. I remembered each of them!

In writing copy to be read on the air, I formed the habit of inserting a comma in copy where I will want to take a breath, or shift emphasis. Today people scold me for my overuse of commas, and elipses.

This week there was criticism of a Massachusetts candidate for the U.S. Senate because the word Massachusetts was misspelled in a printed political ad. Big deal. Very near my home is a park dedicated to the memory of those men and women from this community who have served in the U.S. Military. On the street, approaching the park, is a city-erected sign pointing to Veteran's Park. That is singular possessive, but not surprising in a city where, for many people, English is a second language.

Once, in a Spanish class at New Mexico State University, the instructor told me I had misspelled the Spanish word for the number 10. I was sure I had not. He made me look it up. Good for him. I shall now always remember that the word is spelled diez, not dies!

When Dan Quayle was Vice President, he was once asked to moderate a spelling bee for young students. Quayle was given a stack of cards, each with one word, to test the students. The word potato came up. The student correctly spelled p-o-t-a-t-o. Quayle looked at his card, where the word was spelled p-o-t-a-t-o-e. In those circumstances, with TV lights and all, Quayle was certainly distracted from realizing that whomever had made the card had spelled the word incorrectly. Responding mechanically, as most of us would have, Quayle told the student he needed to add an "e". Following the recent comments on the misspelled word in the Massachusetts political ad, TV commentators. some two decades later, again ridiculed Dan Quayle.

By circumstance, not choice, I once found myself in partnership with people I didn't like very well. One of those new business partners was meticulous about his handwriting. When you saw something he had written (even though you were sure you were going to disagree with his premise), you were compelled to read every perfectly written word.

So, is careful handwriting, correct spelling, proper punctuation and clearly understood annunciation and pronunciation even important? Yes, of course. Clear and careful communication is a better assurance of clear understanding.

But Harry Reid's comment about "Negro dialect" is something else. The word negro, after all, is simply the word for the color black, in Latin based languages. Not all dark skinned persons have a regional accent or speech pattern. I remember my first trip to Bermuda when a black man addressed me in a crisp, British accent. But Reid lumped all dark skinned persons into one distinct group when he referred to Negro dialect. That lumping is the very essence of prejudice.

(I know that some learned person reading this post could, like my radio listener of six decades ago, point out a list of errors. But, as Dr. Pinker predicted, you did get my point, didn't you!)