Words - A Pretty Pointless Ramble
Those that know me are sometimes surprised when I say that I'm actually pretty scared of words. Well, okay - maybe scared is a slight over-exaggeration - more like nervous around them.
No bragging intended but I'm relatively intelligent, read a lot and have a decent vocabulary. I can spell (mostly) and use grammar and punctuation effectively, even though I tend to be very very fond of commas. In fact those that do know me know that I tend to pull out the big guns a.k.a. long and 'intelligent' words when I'm especially annoyed so this... nervousness surprises them to the point where I think they don't really believe me.
My Mum on the other hand, probably understands better than anyone though. She had years of receiving my letters from boarding school (yes, I'm on of those kids - but it's not necessarily how you think *g*) which mainly consisted of lines such as:
Today we had macaroni cheese for tea.
They took us for a walk. It was hot.
Actual excerpts from some of my letters home (which always included the lines 'They've told me I have to do this every week. Can you tell them you don't need to hear from me that often?') So ask me what a preposition is, or what adjective would be best to use in a certain situation and my brain replies “iu986@:Eg&98”. Don't even talk to me about synonyms and the opposite thingies (antonyms?) - my toes curl at the very thought!
I had to take English language and literature at school, and dreaded those words from the teacher: “Write a story...”. Then there was coursework where you had to build a portfolio of pieces of different genres, and analytical styles. Yeah, you can probably guess my reaction.
Numbers on the other hand - well, they just make sense. Totally. There's no possibly or maybe or interpretation errors with numbers. They just... are. So ask me to explain prime numbers or what the 'golden ratio' is, or to solve quadratic equations and I'm your gal. It's been that way for as long as I can remember.
But - now I'm writing. Started off pretty weakly and seriously lacking in confidence but I think I may be starting to like it. Okay, I'm never going to be another Salinger or Tolkien but, in my (very humble) opinion I'm not bad either. I still haven't got a clue about prepositions or stuff like that, but something tells me that this writing 'thing' might be something that sticks with me for a while.
So, I suppose the point of this pretty pointless post was to say that although words scare the bejesus out of me, I'm learning. Getting there... I might even enter a 'big bang' next year. If I can understand what one is *grins*.
No bragging intended but I'm relatively intelligent, read a lot and have a decent vocabulary. I can spell (mostly) and use grammar and punctuation effectively, even though I tend to be very very fond of commas. In fact those that do know me know that I tend to pull out the big guns a.k.a. long and 'intelligent' words when I'm especially annoyed so this... nervousness surprises them to the point where I think they don't really believe me.
My Mum on the other hand, probably understands better than anyone though. She had years of receiving my letters from boarding school (yes, I'm on of those kids - but it's not necessarily how you think *g*) which mainly consisted of lines such as:
Today we had macaroni cheese for tea.
They took us for a walk. It was hot.
Actual excerpts from some of my letters home (which always included the lines 'They've told me I have to do this every week. Can you tell them you don't need to hear from me that often?') So ask me what a preposition is, or what adjective would be best to use in a certain situation and my brain replies “iu986@:Eg&98”. Don't even talk to me about synonyms and the opposite thingies (antonyms?) - my toes curl at the very thought!
I had to take English language and literature at school, and dreaded those words from the teacher: “Write a story...”. Then there was coursework where you had to build a portfolio of pieces of different genres, and analytical styles. Yeah, you can probably guess my reaction.
Numbers on the other hand - well, they just make sense. Totally. There's no possibly or maybe or interpretation errors with numbers. They just... are. So ask me to explain prime numbers or what the 'golden ratio' is, or to solve quadratic equations and I'm your gal. It's been that way for as long as I can remember.
But - now I'm writing. Started off pretty weakly and seriously lacking in confidence but I think I may be starting to like it. Okay, I'm never going to be another Salinger or Tolkien but, in my (very humble) opinion I'm not bad either. I still haven't got a clue about prepositions or stuff like that, but something tells me that this writing 'thing' might be something that sticks with me for a while.
So, I suppose the point of this pretty pointless post was to say that although words scare the bejesus out of me, I'm learning. Getting there... I might even enter a 'big bang' next year. If I can understand what one is *grins*.