I wrote this like years and years ago. It originally appeared on ChuckJerry.com. That's how old it is. My computer says it was last modified in August of 2004. There's sort of a random reason I wanted to post it here, but an ancillary reason is that I just needed this to exist on the interweb. Ok, that's all.
Fruition is definitely my favorite word. This word is pleasing on so many different levels that it makes me think that all words should be so functional. To start, lets define fruition. Dictionary.com defines it as the realization of something desired or worked for, an accomplishment. Therefore the word had a clearly positive connotation. That's a plus right off the bat.
In looking at the word, clearly it is related to fruit. One gets the sense that the meaning of this word comes from the fact that all of one's efforts have finally come to bear fruit. And that is precisely its meaning. This is a great analogy to make and by simply using the word 'fruition' the analogy is built in. One can extrapolate fields of grapes or apples or anything like that and imagine that after having toiled in the fields and cared after each plant, the harvest is here and is successful and that all is right with the world.
The root of the word is from the Latin root fru- which translates as enjoyment. This is great. That means that the root of fruition comes from enjoyment, which is fairly pleasing. Even better, however, is the fact that the same root is used in the noun fruit. Fruit is therefore derived from enjoyment. One would think that fruit would be one of those words that would exist as a tangible force long before the abstract idea of enjoyment. One would also think that the inherent enjoyment of fruit as a food and source of life and so on, while certainly evident upon thought, wouldn't be the driving force behind the coining of a word, yet here it is, plain as day.
To get back to fruition, then, we can see that, in a sense, fruition is the root for fruit, whereas logically we would assume that fruit would be the root of fruition. I suppose this is a slippery slope. After all, these two words wouldn't really be described as roots of one another, but rather brothers with the same paternal root. In the end, however, the idea of enjoyment is clearly the root of fruit and the idea of enjoyment is clearly encompassed in fruition, which is what I meant to say in the first place.
Aside from the absolutely thrilling link to its original root, fruition is a great word simply because it is so phonetically pleasing. To hear the word fruition is like a small three syllable symphony. It takes on a space in the air which clearly points to it as the apex of the sentence it inhabits. If you're hearing it for the first time the essence may not be immediately apparent, but the meaning is clear after only a moment's thought. In deriving the meaning one must clearly go through the aforementioned built in analogy, which then makes the meaning of the word so utterly clear, that no explanation is necessary from the user of this wonderful word.
In any event, I've wandered and veered off point and made several tangents that are certainly relevant, but don't point directly at the brilliance this word holds. Put simply, 'fruition' is a word that, when used, points clearly at the brilliance of the human mind and the simple eloquence of the English language.
Showing posts with label english. Show all posts
Showing posts with label english. Show all posts
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Thursday, May 10, 2007
English Damn Good
I just read Chuck's post on how dope English is, and I wanted to share some thoughts. I would've just put these in the comments, but since I haven't posted in a while (and I have a YouTube bit which won't go in comments) I thought I'd throw it up here and take credit for an actual post.
First off, Chuck's bit about how important it is to choose the right words reminded me of a favorite quote one of my old teachers said to me. I think it's from Mark Twain, and there's a bit of paraphrasing here (ironic, huh?): The difference between choosing a word and the right word is like the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.
Nice, huh?
Speaking of the right words, something that has bothered me for quite some time is when people say that something is "intrical." Intrical is not a word. It's a lazy conflation of integral and intricate, and most people don't realize they're not speaking English when they say it. Though I imagine Chuck has used it -- and he would tell you it was an intrical part of the point he was making.
And finally, regarding the part about German being a much nicer language than most people know since we are mostly familiar with it through Hitler speeches, I think the following clip sums that up about perfectly. It's an old skit from The Dana Carvey Show, which I thought was very funny but those bastards at the network cancelled it after just a handful of episodes. Also interesting -- that's Steve Carell on the right, way before he became Steve Carell.
And here's another (completely unrelated to Chuck's post) clip, but it's funny, it has Steve Carell, and it also has Stephen Colbert before he became Stephen Colbert.
This better go up in the right place this time. Stupid time stamps.
First off, Chuck's bit about how important it is to choose the right words reminded me of a favorite quote one of my old teachers said to me. I think it's from Mark Twain, and there's a bit of paraphrasing here (ironic, huh?): The difference between choosing a word and the right word is like the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.
Nice, huh?
Speaking of the right words, something that has bothered me for quite some time is when people say that something is "intrical." Intrical is not a word. It's a lazy conflation of integral and intricate, and most people don't realize they're not speaking English when they say it. Though I imagine Chuck has used it -- and he would tell you it was an intrical part of the point he was making.
And finally, regarding the part about German being a much nicer language than most people know since we are mostly familiar with it through Hitler speeches, I think the following clip sums that up about perfectly. It's an old skit from The Dana Carvey Show, which I thought was very funny but those bastards at the network cancelled it after just a handful of episodes. Also interesting -- that's Steve Carell on the right, way before he became Steve Carell.
And here's another (completely unrelated to Chuck's post) clip, but it's funny, it has Steve Carell, and it also has Stephen Colbert before he became Stephen Colbert.
This better go up in the right place this time. Stupid time stamps.
English Good
Foreword
The prefix to the post is that I thought of the idea while I was reading the New York Times Magazine. I had originally intended just to post these two lines from the "Lives" column last week, and it turned into an essay without a place to actually put in the quotations. So before you read the essay, here is the inspiration. It's from a column by a lady named Lisa Carver and it's about how she had two dysfunctional marriages before settling in with her new boyfriend.
In this one she's describing how her boyfriend is kindof ghetto:
I've come to really appreciate the English language. It's not as pretty as French or Spanish. It doesn't have the cool efficiency of German. But it's a perfect mix of the things that make those languages great. I don't know French well enough to really comment on it, but it sounds pretty. Spanish is a gorgeous language. If you're going to write a love song, you should write it in Spanish. But those languages lack usefullness.
Spanish, for example, doesn't have an allowance for using the possessive sense. (Interestingly, in relation to this post, I couldn't think of a better word to use in place of 'sense' here. The possessive is not a tense. I know it is something, but the word escapes me. Anyhow,) In English you can say "Luke's sister", but in Spanish you have to say "La hermana de Luke", which translates to "the sister of Luke". This is logically unsound as soon as you move to second degree possession. In English you can do the Spaceballs thing where you say "My father's cousin's rommate's girlfriend's uncle's friend gave me this PBA card". You can formulate this senctence on the fly as you think of your father, followed by his cousin, his rommate, his girlfriend, and so on, while you just add the apostrophe s to each person in your mind. In Spanish you have to start at the end of that sentence, nearly impossible to do in general conversation. It would translate basically to "the friend of the uncle of the girlfriend of the rommate of the cousin of my father". That would be impossible to say, first of all, and impossible to understand by the listener even if the speaker could get it out.
I think German gets a bad rap. I would bet that 98% of the German we hear as English speakers is from tapes of Hitler talking to enormous crowds. Hitler was insane to begin with and in front of large crowds he was all into it and yelling and what not. Either that, or people essentially imitating Hitler when exaggerating whatever they're saying in German. I think that's what makes us think German is a language for crazy people. German is not as ugly as we think it is. And It's ridiculously efficient. They have this thing in German where you can just tack words on to other words to say what you mean. I don't know much German, so I may be overstating it, but I get the idea you can do this whenever you want. The only example I know for sure in German is the word "kindergarten" which translates into "children's garden". Since English is Germanic we have that too. Any compound word is proof. "Airplane", "sidebar", "Superman" you get the idea. German words like "bildungsroman" and "schadenfreude" and what not just tack on word after word to get a point across. Incdientally, I managed to spell both of those words correctly on the first try. I looked both of them up to correct what I figured was undoubtedly a misspelling, only to find that both were correct.
I don't remember making a conscious decision to put the right words with the right thoughts, but now I'm almost hyperconscious of it. I didn't notice until someone pointed it out to me when I was in college. I don't even remember what we were talking about, but she said to me, "You choose your words too carefully to say something like that." And she meant it in a pejorative way, which is what made me think about it. I guess it's true. I'm a believer that there is a right word for whatever it is you're trying to say. So finding the right word in the right situation has become something of a life's goal of mine. My personality is such that I strive to say as few words as possible, so efficiency is of utmost importance. (Worth pointing out again, that my e-self is sortof the opposite of my actual self. I really tend to ramble around these posts.) A good example is the use of the word "penultimate". I can't tell you how often I hear the phrase "second to last". At least once a week. Every time I do, I think to myself "you should have said 'penultimate', you ignoramus". Even better than "penultimate" is "antepenultimate", meaning "third to last".
Something else I enjoy is using words in contexts that they don't belong in, or even just downright improperly, and having them make sense anyway. A good example is the word "nonplussed". I usually use it to mean "unhappy" when I know full well that it actually means "perplexed". Interestingly, if you don't know the meaning, then you just assume it means "unhappy", whereas if you do know the meaning, then you get a double dose of meaning, as you know that I mean "unhappy" when in all likelihood the person is probably unhappy because of some level of perplexity.
Here's a bit of text from my old school website on the page about me:
Anyway, English rocks, and when used properly is both beautiful and efficient.
The prefix to the post is that I thought of the idea while I was reading the New York Times Magazine. I had originally intended just to post these two lines from the "Lives" column last week, and it turned into an essay without a place to actually put in the quotations. So before you read the essay, here is the inspiration. It's from a column by a lady named Lisa Carver and it's about how she had two dysfunctional marriages before settling in with her new boyfriend.
In this one she's describing how her boyfriend is kindof ghetto:
"I know it looks bad. But I also know how bad my good-looking marriage actually was."The second is just pure brilliance, no explanation required:
"I don't feel bad that this will be my third marriage. Sometimes you have to try out both coasts before you decide Ohio is the place for you"The Essay
I've come to really appreciate the English language. It's not as pretty as French or Spanish. It doesn't have the cool efficiency of German. But it's a perfect mix of the things that make those languages great. I don't know French well enough to really comment on it, but it sounds pretty. Spanish is a gorgeous language. If you're going to write a love song, you should write it in Spanish. But those languages lack usefullness.
Spanish, for example, doesn't have an allowance for using the possessive sense. (Interestingly, in relation to this post, I couldn't think of a better word to use in place of 'sense' here. The possessive is not a tense. I know it is something, but the word escapes me. Anyhow,) In English you can say "Luke's sister", but in Spanish you have to say "La hermana de Luke", which translates to "the sister of Luke". This is logically unsound as soon as you move to second degree possession. In English you can do the Spaceballs thing where you say "My father's cousin's rommate's girlfriend's uncle's friend gave me this PBA card". You can formulate this senctence on the fly as you think of your father, followed by his cousin, his rommate, his girlfriend, and so on, while you just add the apostrophe s to each person in your mind. In Spanish you have to start at the end of that sentence, nearly impossible to do in general conversation. It would translate basically to "the friend of the uncle of the girlfriend of the rommate of the cousin of my father". That would be impossible to say, first of all, and impossible to understand by the listener even if the speaker could get it out.
I think German gets a bad rap. I would bet that 98% of the German we hear as English speakers is from tapes of Hitler talking to enormous crowds. Hitler was insane to begin with and in front of large crowds he was all into it and yelling and what not. Either that, or people essentially imitating Hitler when exaggerating whatever they're saying in German. I think that's what makes us think German is a language for crazy people. German is not as ugly as we think it is. And It's ridiculously efficient. They have this thing in German where you can just tack words on to other words to say what you mean. I don't know much German, so I may be overstating it, but I get the idea you can do this whenever you want. The only example I know for sure in German is the word "kindergarten" which translates into "children's garden". Since English is Germanic we have that too. Any compound word is proof. "Airplane", "sidebar", "Superman" you get the idea. German words like "bildungsroman" and "schadenfreude" and what not just tack on word after word to get a point across. Incdientally, I managed to spell both of those words correctly on the first try. I looked both of them up to correct what I figured was undoubtedly a misspelling, only to find that both were correct.
I don't remember making a conscious decision to put the right words with the right thoughts, but now I'm almost hyperconscious of it. I didn't notice until someone pointed it out to me when I was in college. I don't even remember what we were talking about, but she said to me, "You choose your words too carefully to say something like that." And she meant it in a pejorative way, which is what made me think about it. I guess it's true. I'm a believer that there is a right word for whatever it is you're trying to say. So finding the right word in the right situation has become something of a life's goal of mine. My personality is such that I strive to say as few words as possible, so efficiency is of utmost importance. (Worth pointing out again, that my e-self is sortof the opposite of my actual self. I really tend to ramble around these posts.) A good example is the use of the word "penultimate". I can't tell you how often I hear the phrase "second to last". At least once a week. Every time I do, I think to myself "you should have said 'penultimate', you ignoramus". Even better than "penultimate" is "antepenultimate", meaning "third to last".
Something else I enjoy is using words in contexts that they don't belong in, or even just downright improperly, and having them make sense anyway. A good example is the word "nonplussed". I usually use it to mean "unhappy" when I know full well that it actually means "perplexed". Interestingly, if you don't know the meaning, then you just assume it means "unhappy", whereas if you do know the meaning, then you get a double dose of meaning, as you know that I mean "unhappy" when in all likelihood the person is probably unhappy because of some level of perplexity.
Here's a bit of text from my old school website on the page about me:
"He told a bunch of people in my class that my middle name was Aloyscious the next day and there was a bit of ongoing happenstance related to that for a few days. Happenstance does not really fit into the context of that sentence, though I doubt anyone would have noticed if I didn't point it out. For the rest of this little diatribe, you'll have to accept the fact that I enjoy using words where they don't belong, or even words that don't exist. I'm not going to point it out any more, fortunately for you.)"Come to think of it, I also really enjoy sometimes saying things I don't really mean at all, just to emphasize a point. That in itself is the pure definition of "irony", except when I do it sometimes the irony is lost because I assume that people understand that I don't mean what I say even though I've given them no reason to, when in actuality they just go around thinking I'm a dumbass. I guess it's a win-win, though, because they get to think I'm a dumbass, and I get to privately hold it over their heads, thus bringing to fruition the full extent of my passive aggression. (You didn't think I'd write a post on how much I love language without using my favorite word, did you? My favorite word is "fruition", for those who haven't committed my websites from 5 years ago to memory (What's wrong with you?))
Anyway, English rocks, and when used properly is both beautiful and efficient.
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