A Thought to Share

[dreams_of_wings]

From "Sy Syfransky's Notebook", The Sun, June 2010

What if psychiatrists came up with different language to describe the suffering of people who troop into their consulting rooms every day? Instead of diagnosing a young women with "borderline personality disorder," how about "lost in the realm of fluttering leaves"? Instead of "depression," how

Comments

[lillibet]

That's beautiful and thought-provoking. Thank you for sharing that.

tears from childrens' eyes

[ohmyqueen]

Those we often do not take seriously enough, do we? The heartbreak of a child who has skinned her knee is one thing, but the crush of a cruel word,or an indifferent parent... the tears from these things linger and fester many time.

[radtea]

Nice idea, but probably shouldn't be repeating the "Inuit have many different words for snow" thing:

http://www.amazon.com/Eskimo-Vocabulary-Irreverent-Essays-Language/dp/0226685349/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278534737&sr=8-1

[lightcastle]

Thanks, that was my first thought.

Of course, that's because the avalanche that has buried me over the last few years has trapped most of the poetry of my soul in its frigid depths.

[radtea]

My left brain and right brain are a) both very active and b) not always on speaking terms. I'm writing a lot of poetry right now, which appears to make me even more relentlessly literal and unpoetic than usual in day-to-day interaction.

[tahnan]

Indeed, the words-for-snow thing is an utter myth, born out of a desire to exoticize, exaggerated by mindless repetition, maintained by journalists who want the easy metaphor to reach for. (Pullum's article is well worth reading.)

[lyonesse]

the inuit don't, of course

[drwex]

*leaves a pebble*