Inherit the Word

Posted by Emily M. | June 21, 2010 | 8 Comments

While reading my ancestor John Solomon Fullmer‘s letters last week, I came across this piece of advice, written in a letter to his brother David:

P.S. Inasmuch as your vocation will in future be of a public nature, I will give you this little piece of advice, at which I hope you will not take umbrage . . . above all, improve your grammar . . . No man who is a public speaker, however intelligent he may be, has, or can have half the influence that he might have if he be found deficient in the language he uses, especially if it be his native one. I will give you an example. Why did I just say, “if he be found,” and “if it be his native one?” Because there is a contingency expressed in both cases. Nothing is more common than to use the verb is in both these places, and nothing is more incorrect. You might as well say they was.

I recognized this as a nineteenth century version of a lecture I have given myself. Someplace in my personal genome there must be a Word Awareness Gene, for although my grammar and spelling are not nearly as precise as John Solomon Fullmer’s, I do have a few things I’m picky about. I have been known, on more than one occasion, to be just as benevolently pedantic as he.

But word awareness is much more than grammar and spelling. When I hear a beautiful turn of phrase, something familiar like “I am a part of all that I have met” or something completely fresh:

There are edges,
knife, cliff, blade, sanity,
but nothing like walking the lip
from here to there.
(read the full text here)

the words heal and restore me.

I think, reading over his careful prose, that John Solomon Fullmer also felt the same sense of delight, not just the slightly superior feeling that comes from noticing a mistake. The best part of loving language is not nit-picking at apostrophes, but basking in the pleasure of eloquence.

What quirky traits have you inherited? And feel free to share with us your favorite well-written phrases.

Comments

8 Responses to “Inherit the Word”

Annette
June 21st, 2010 @ 12:51 pm

This just brings the Word Nerd in me endless pleasure. The fact that you’re related to this guy–one more reason to like you!
Jill Shelley
June 21st, 2010 @ 1:46 pm

I have discovered while blogging, that even while sometimes I know something is not grammatically correct, if I like it better another way, that’s okay with me. But then we can take whatever liberties we choose in our blogs, right?

I think language can be beautiful even when it is written “incorrectly.” I just finished reading, “The Help” and I fell in love with the black southern dialect. It’s like I can’t get enough of it. Love that book, and the best part to me was the language.
Claudia
June 21st, 2010 @ 2:05 pm

I found this as interesting post. But the following statement really set of my bad grammar detector.

“I have been known, on more than one occasion, to be just as benevolently pedantic as him.”

Here him is used when it should be he. Among all the nice correct things that is what jumped out at me. That is my quirk.
Emily M.
June 21st, 2010 @ 2:28 pm

Thanks, Annette!

Jill, I’m really looking forward to reading The Help for my book club soon. People who can write dialect well amaze me.

Claudia, I knew someone was going to catch me on something like that–it always happens whenever I talk about grammar issues. I went back and corrected it. This is why I love copyeditors; they save me from things I should notice but don’t.
jendoop
June 21st, 2010 @ 2:57 pm

I’m thinking of Lewis Carroll now. He knew how to break the rules in all the right ways and invent his own. That’s the beauty in knowing the rules so well, you break them beautifully.

“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn’t be. And what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?”
— The Mad Hatter
Melissa Y
June 21st, 2010 @ 4:09 pm

This was great, Emily. I love that there is a word-awareness gene in your family. I wish I had one.

I’m sure I inherited more than I realize. I wish I had more stories of my ancestors.

Thanks for the links too!
sar
June 21st, 2010 @ 5:47 pm

I would rather sound right than be right, when it comes to language. Although I do get a little prescriptivist/esoteric thrill when I use “whom,” especially if I can use it with a non-dangling preposition (“to whom are you writing?”)

My most recently emerged inherited quirk is my grandfather’s profound distrust of unions.
Sherry
June 21st, 2010 @ 11:08 pm

My grandmother taught my grandfather how to play tennis and pinochle. As soon as he started consistently beating her, she refused to play any more. I did not know either of these people, but they were (apparently) highly competitive. I definitely inherited that trait from them. Oddly, this trait completely skipped my father, who is quite possibly the least competitive person you will ever meet.