OUR COMLICATED ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Somewhere in my long term memory, I stored the trivia that Eskimos have over 25 words for snow.  English is certainly not at all better, really.  If something can be said simply, it is but chance.  Take, for example, the word billet.


billet   PRONUNCIATION:(BIL-it)  verb tr., intr.:MEANING:
1. To lodge or to be quartered.
noun:
2. A civilian place (as a private home) where soldiers are lodged temporarily.
3. An official order directing someone to provide lodging for soldiers.
4. A short letter or a note.
5. A job appointment.
6. A chunk of wood, suitable for fuel.
7. A metal bar or ingot.

Truly, in my ignorance, I fail to see a connection between a job appointment and as chunk of wood suitable for fuel   Perhaps it comes from the prospective employer receiving so many applications, he compresses them all into a block to be burned up!  Well, it makes as much sense as any other!

constitution, yet another word with many meanings and one meaning which seems to have different meanings to different people today, as in The Constitution of the United States. Whatever happened to Justice Scalia's teaching the Constitution to Bachmann and friends?. If he is through with that, maybe he can teach her American History to date.

constitution [ˌkɒnstɪˈtjuːʃən]  n

1. the act of constituting or state of being constituted

2. the way in which a thing is composed; physical make-up; structure

3. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) the fundamental political principles on which a state is governed, esp when considered as embodying the rights of the subjects of that state

4. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) (often capital) (in certain countries, esp Australia and the US) a statute embodying such principles

5. a person's state of health

6. a person's disposition of mind; temperament

(definition from the Collins English Dictionary)

MORE ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL MENTALITY

More and more, lately, I hear about the government not doing things right, no longer being for the people, etc. The government is no longer a term that can include all the issues that confront us as being handled by a single entity. The government is like a multi-headed monster with all the parts of good and evil fighting themselves. The sad part is, in our culture, the one with the most money has begun winning all the arguments, just as drug cartels have more power and ammunition than police in most countries.

What exactly is our government? Is it the corporations which buy lobbyists and power and can squelch progress that takes profits from them? Is it the many think-tank Institutes who give so much advice? Is it the trash collectors who have the control to put big cities on their knees if they choose to stop working? Is it the Administrative, Legislative and Judicial triad? Is it the many bureaus who scarcely speak to one another like the FBI, CIA, Homeland Security, or is it to be found in the alphabetized list of Bureaus you get if you click here?

It was citizens, not yet elected officials as such, who helped set up our government. "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence,[1] promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." Yet, just as the Bible was a great book when it was first written, the Constitution no longer is clear to the average person. Great scholars are required to interpret what the Founders were thinking, just as clergy is needed to try to interpret the Bible. Why cannot we write something that is no longer obsolete for our present society?.

We need to bring our country up to date with its understanding of the way the 'government' really works and just how each citizen can see him or her self as having a role in it. There are choices for all of us. In medicine we insist that doctors allow patients informed choices. Our present government, through media, disallows informed choices. Each party is free to promise and lie as ably as the snake oil salesmen of a century ago.

If the legislative branch members were in Washington to try to represent their constituents rather than lining their own pockets and securing re-election and benefits they do not deserve, while criticizing corporations for their too generous bonuses. Now there is a true picture of hypocrisy at is finest hour.

Isn't it time we started thinking about what works and not just voting for 'change' by putting in total incompetent, greedy, inadequate self-serving representatives? Where are our 'grass roots' advocates? Are they all too busy putting out the fires to find the cause of those fires?