I remember seeing three women teachers on TV insulted by a professor who they looked to for guidance on the subject because he upbraided them on their loose use of the word.  It was a sharp reminder to me that one goes further with a lump of sugar than a spoonful of vinegar.

I have little memory for words that I had not got under my belt by the age of 20. And a high proportion of those I tend to misspell. Yet I would not have them simplified for the reason that they, like me, carry within their eccentricities a history of their being in our speech and dictionaries. I enjoy words, even though they tease me unconscionably.  Thank goodness for spell checkers. I look forward to software that helps with rhythm in writing.

A year or two ago I faced with trepidation an operation to replace my left hip.  I needed something to take my mind off the approaching event.  I put to good use my difficulty with words.  I chose to learn verbs and case ending in Ancient Greek – How sensible! I hear you say?

Well, sensible or not, the ruse worked. That is, it worked for long enough to get me through.  I’ve forgotten most of it, but that doesn’t matter.

Here are two efforts I made to go with exercises I was working on in my copy of Teach Yourself Greek. Ancient Greek is the language of drama (the thing done), and of philosophy and poetry, and myth….And of getting over the fear of an operation. I suppose the sketches are too sketchy to mean much, but they are actually scans of my having to think hard about something not important to avoid thinking about something very important – like catching a killer bug in hospital…. perhaps there is something aseptic in ancient Greek because I didn’t catch anything nasty.