Words

How in the world can anyone that hasn't spoken English since birth actually learn the language?  And before you start ranking on me, I know kids cannot speak English when they are first born, it's a figure of speech.  They do, however, speak fluent Scream.  The female of the species will continue to speak Scream throughout their lives while the male of the species will only speak Scream on unique occasions, such as when your team wins the World Series for the first time in 86 years.  I'm still a bit horse from October of 2004!

Okay, how many of you caught the word "horse" in the last sentence?  Obviously one cannot be horse, but one can be hoarse, unless you are a horse, because a horse can't be hoarse.  (Sounds like a verse from the TV show "Mr. Ed", doesn't it? If you are younger than 50 years old, just trust me, it does.)  Have you ever thought about how many words in the English language either sound exactly the same or are spelled the same with totally different meanings?  I doubt you have, so it is a good thing you tuned into this blog as I have done the thinking for you.  A scary thought, I know, but true none the less. 

Homophone.  That's the name of a word that is pronounced the same as another but has a different meaning.  I'll bet you didn't even know that those words had a name, did you?  See the things you learn here?  By the time you finish reading this blog you will have earned 12 college credits which will be transferable to any major college in the United States...if you actually read all thirty-something blogs you will have earned the equivalent of a full fledged college degree...a BS, of  course.

Back to the words.  Here's a sample paragraph that illustrates just how confusing our language can be:

I like to right.  I no some people are board with reading so ewe don't have to reed this if you don't want two - it is up to you to chews weather or knot too.  Ore, you can dew something different, like talk on you're sell phone...or knot.  Go dew what you are lead two do.  Ewe can paint the sealing, clean the seller (witch may take you a few daze), have a bowl of serial, wash you're feat, oar pick sum flours - butt not in the reign.  Whatever you choose two due, bee my guessed.

With all of the different words, spellings and meanings, I thought to myself "how can anyone learn English"?   Then I thought to myself "you gotta stop thinking, this is getting too exhausting".  To the person that only speaks English other languages are very confusing.  Take Chinese, for instance.  The word for "Chinese" in Chinese is 中国 and is pronounced something like "chun coa".  The word for "Swedish" in Swedish is 中国 and at first glance looks remarkably like the Chinese rendition of "Chinese".  Actually the "copy & paste" option on my laptop didn't work quite right...let's try that again, shall we?  The Swedish word for "Swedish" is "Svenska".  Speaking of Swedish, they have some interesting words too.  The Swedish word for "glass" is "glos" (pronounced gloss) while the Swedish word for ice cream is literally "glass".  Can you see the danger in ordering dessert there?

Even English words are often times not pronounced as they are written.  Words like "honor" should be pronounced as ha-onor.  Or how about "ballet"?  That should be pronounced ballot, however since there already was a word called ballot some genius decided to make the "et" sound like an "a".  The city of Worcester is pronounced "wooster".  The town of Occum is also pronounced "wooster"...who knew?

Most people don't know that I am multilingual, meaning I can swear in 18 different languages.  Actually that's not true...only in about 12.  Why is it that when someone meets another person who speaks a different language, the first question isn't "how do you say 'how are you' in your language" but "how do you say $#!%"?  Don't deny it, you know you've done that.  Someone once said swearing was invented as a compromise between running away and fighting.  Rather than swearing, running or fighting, I think I'll use the only other alternative to get my point across...the language Scream!  WADDYA THINK, HUH?!?

Two Walks, a Wedding and McDreamy

It's been a busy few weeks here at TK's Random Thoughts!  The weekend of September 24th was wicked busy to coin a phrase.  There were two Walks to Break the Silence on Ovarian Cancer, ours here in Connecticut and the other in Rhode Island.  And sandwiched in between our "fourth son" got married to his beautiful bride...it was quite the weekend.  My congratulations to Rashaun and Jen!!!  Their smiles lit up the place more than any bright lights could have.

I know, ladies, all that is well and good but what about McDreamy???  You'll have to wait for it.  (Oh the joys of being a writer and having the power to make people wait for things.)  What's that?  They can skip to the end rather than read the entire blog?  Oh pullease, no one would EVER do that to one of MY blogs!  Right???

If you have never attended a Walk/Run to Break the Silence, first of all, shame on you!  However, if you have never heard of them I will give you a pass - and tell you that next year's CT walk is scheduled for Saturday September 22nd so now you have no excuse!  The walks are to raise funds for the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition (NOCC) whose mission is to raise awareness and promote education about ovarian cancer.  Their goal is not to raise money for research as there are other organizations that do a good job with that.  Rather, educating women and men across the country about the disease is what they do and they do it very well.  You see, since there is no definitive screening test for ovarian cancer it is very important to know the symptoms because, if caught early, the five year survival rate is over 90%.  However, if it is only diagnosed in later stages the prognosis is poor.  Of the roughly 20,000 women who are diagnosed each year with ovarian cancer about 15,000 will die.  This is why education about the disease is so vitally important.  I urge you to take a moment and go to www.ovarian.org and learn more about this.  Many of you know why my wife and I are involved with this great organization as she is an 8 year survivor of the disease, so this is personal to us.  Go look at the website RIGHT NOW!  I'll wait..........but don't forget to come back!

Glad to have you back.  Briefly back to the walks then we'll get to McDreamy.  The walks are a beautiful testimonial to the women and their families who have gone through the battle with ovarian cancer, are presently going through the battle, or who have lost their battle with the disease.  All I can tell you is to try to attend a walk near you as they are located throughout the United States, mostly in September.  The stories you will hear, the education you will receive, and the laughter and tears are all part of a wonderful day of celebration, remembrance and love that you have to experience for yourself.

OK, ladies, you have been patient.  My wife now works for the NOCC and one of her functions as the Faces of Hope Program Coordinator for newly diagnosed women is to visit hospitals and sometimes man a booth (or would that be WOman a booth?) at different locations throughout the U.S.  One such event occurred the weekend of October 8th in Maine which is known as the Dempsey Challenge.  This is an annual event in Lewiston Maine which raises money for the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope and Healing.  Dempsey started the center in honor of his mother who is a survivor of ovarian cancer, and their services are free of charge so events such as this are very important.  My wife and two of her colleagues attended the event for the NOCC.  And if you haven't figured it out yet (yeah, right) Patrick Dempsey plays Dr. Derek Shepherd, aka Dr. McDreamy, on the TV show Grey's Anatomy.  Did they get to meet him?  You tell me...

You know, now that this guy had his picture taken with Madonna, Ronni and Donna I'll bet he becomes famous...how can he miss?  Let's see, if I photoshop him out and put my picture in maybe I'll have a shot at becoming famous!  Nah, who needs it.  Besides, does McDreamy write a blog that is read in Latvia?