Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
I think my all time favourite "word change" has to be the word "butterfly", which was originally "flutterby". Isn't that just a beautifully descriptive word for what a butterfly does?
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This reminded me of an important childhood epiphany. I was about eight years old and had given up on ever learning English. It seemed to me that every time I thought I understood the language some new complication arose.
I remember seeing some butterflies doing an acrobatic dance in the sunshine and I accidentally called them “flutterbys” before correcting myself. It was then that I realized that I had been approaching English all wrong. “Flutterbys” works very well in English. And why not! Why not use the language as a plaything? It doesn’t have to be mechanical (everyway but this is wrong) or a work of art never to be tampered with. I decided to stop fussing and use English as the delightful toy it can be.
I don’t know if nonsense literature exists in all languages, but in English, moments like Lewis Carrol’s strange and wonderful “frumious Bandersnatch” are pure language play. I don’t know if every language exists as a toy for everyone to play with or if only the poets play with them, but ever since I was eight I have always thought of English as a delightful, free toy available to us all.