LETTERS: WORDS CAN BE PROBLEMS

To the editor:

Words are how we communicate. Communication leads to understanding, or, at times, misunderstanding.

With such a beautiful language, it seems unfortunate that it is so easy to put one's foot in one's mouth. Playing with words is an interesting game. I recall a young woman at a youth church meeting describe Jesus as a "perfect Liver."

One can have difficulty understanding the usage and meanings of certain words even in the same language. Idiomatic expressions can be very tricky. The same word may have a different meaning in different parts of the country, and between the U.S. and England the difference can be even more apparent though usually understood. In New York one can take the subway, but in London it is the underground. Here the underground denotes an organized secret opposition to the government. There are many other differences of which you are probably aware.

The same word in another language does not necessarily mean the same. For example, I was somewhat surprised when in South America I asked a person I was meeting for the first time, "How are you feeling?" His reply was, "I am doing fine, but I am a little `constipado'." I thought that a rather frank or blunt reply coming from a person I really didn't know that well. Then I realized that the word in Spanish only meant that he was not feeling all that well, or, as we might say, "I am a little under the weather." Then, in his language, you must explain what it means to be a little under the weather. Errors are even easier to make in learning another tongue.

Even with our emphasis on freedom, I am sure that most grammar teachers would not endorse a policy of anything goes. A recent media report suggested that "mucho grande" was a good way to describe something large. There is usually a common consensus as to what is acceptable as correct usage, and most of us would not accept "much big" or "much large." Without some rules of order, we would soon have a language anarchy.

Those proponents of making English the official or legal language would most certainly agree that certain rules are necessary. I am sure that teachers of grammar have enough trouble keeping an acceptable degree of order, but to disregard all rules would results in a language chaos. Let us at least give our English teachers a fair chance, or they will have even more headaches than they have already.

IVAN NOTHDURFT

Cape Girardeau