I Love the English Language
I was reminiscing about my life and I remembered a nice little moment in my life. I decided to pen down those moments. I am about to narrate it to you. I don't know whether you will like it or not. Its basically some feelings I had: Just give it a read.
Well here goes.
It was almost 13 years ago: I was in high school and I was in love with the English language. I was seriously considering doing Masters in English and becoming an English teacher. In fact it seemed like my only option at that moment. I knew nothing about other professions besides teaching. I often wondered what do people do sitting in their big offices and going through file after file, signing them. I wondered what was in their files. It seemed at that moment that I was destined to become an English teacher.
The English language had always fascinated me. It seemed simple, yet it was very complex. All it had was 26 letters. And those 26 letters had enough magic in them to conjure up anything in the world. With each passing day I hoped and tried to learn new permutations and combinations with multiple occurrences of those 26 letters. And each of those combinations had a new meaning and told me of something new.
I loved anagrams. You could be given a handful of letters and just by rearranging them you could see "GOD" or hear a "DOG" bark; you could have "LIVED" a peaceful life or even met the "DEVIL".
I kept on thinking how wonderful it really is. I wanted to know every single English word that exists. My favourite book at that moment was the English dictionary. I had three of them. One was the "Oxford Dictionary", another one was "Everyman's Dictionary" and I also had a small little pocket dictionary. I tried to have them with me at most times; while reading other books, or watching television, in the hope of discovering a new word; and I did discover many new words that way.
There was one word that I wanted to know the most. I did not know the word exactly. All I knew was that it was the longest word in the English dictionary. It became an obsession with me. I had to find out what that word was. I had no access to internet in those days. I didn't even know what the internet was back then. I looked through the dictionaries I had in my possession without any luck. I asked some of my friends and my teachers but none of them could tell me what I wanted to know. I wished that someday soon I would stumble upon it.
It had become a ritual by then that each day when I came home from school the first thing that I would do upon entering my room would be to open up a dictionary on a random page and learn all the words from that page. On this particular day, the dictionary had opened on page number 568 and the treasure I had been seeking was staring right back at me. There it was - the word "floccinaucinihilipilification". The word that had been eluding me was finally in my grasp. I looked at the meaning - it read "estimating as worthless”. There was certainly nothing worthless about it. At that moment it had all the worth of the riches of King Tut's tomb for me. I remember going through this dictionary before; I must have somehow overlooked it, the treasure, but my search was finally over now.
For the next few weeks, I was in love with this word. I memorized it and I was writing it whenever and wherever I could. I could spell that word , all 29 letters of it.
It is said that simple things in life are often responsible for the most pleasurable moments. I don't know how simple the word floccinaucinihilipilification is, but I do know that I felt greatest of pleasures when I first laid my eyes on it. I later found out that there were words such as "pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism" and "pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis" which were longer than "floccinaucinihilipilification" but that did not diminish the significance of that moment in my life.
I still remember that moment and I know I always will.
Well here goes.
It was almost 13 years ago: I was in high school and I was in love with the English language. I was seriously considering doing Masters in English and becoming an English teacher. In fact it seemed like my only option at that moment. I knew nothing about other professions besides teaching. I often wondered what do people do sitting in their big offices and going through file after file, signing them. I wondered what was in their files. It seemed at that moment that I was destined to become an English teacher.
The English language had always fascinated me. It seemed simple, yet it was very complex. All it had was 26 letters. And those 26 letters had enough magic in them to conjure up anything in the world. With each passing day I hoped and tried to learn new permutations and combinations with multiple occurrences of those 26 letters. And each of those combinations had a new meaning and told me of something new.
I loved anagrams. You could be given a handful of letters and just by rearranging them you could see "GOD" or hear a "DOG" bark; you could have "LIVED" a peaceful life or even met the "DEVIL".
I kept on thinking how wonderful it really is. I wanted to know every single English word that exists. My favourite book at that moment was the English dictionary. I had three of them. One was the "Oxford Dictionary", another one was "Everyman's Dictionary" and I also had a small little pocket dictionary. I tried to have them with me at most times; while reading other books, or watching television, in the hope of discovering a new word; and I did discover many new words that way.
There was one word that I wanted to know the most. I did not know the word exactly. All I knew was that it was the longest word in the English dictionary. It became an obsession with me. I had to find out what that word was. I had no access to internet in those days. I didn't even know what the internet was back then. I looked through the dictionaries I had in my possession without any luck. I asked some of my friends and my teachers but none of them could tell me what I wanted to know. I wished that someday soon I would stumble upon it.
It had become a ritual by then that each day when I came home from school the first thing that I would do upon entering my room would be to open up a dictionary on a random page and learn all the words from that page. On this particular day, the dictionary had opened on page number 568 and the treasure I had been seeking was staring right back at me. There it was - the word "floccinaucinihilipilification". The word that had been eluding me was finally in my grasp. I looked at the meaning - it read "estimating as worthless”. There was certainly nothing worthless about it. At that moment it had all the worth of the riches of King Tut's tomb for me. I remember going through this dictionary before; I must have somehow overlooked it, the treasure, but my search was finally over now.
For the next few weeks, I was in love with this word. I memorized it and I was writing it whenever and wherever I could. I could spell that word , all 29 letters of it.
It is said that simple things in life are often responsible for the most pleasurable moments. I don't know how simple the word floccinaucinihilipilification is, but I do know that I felt greatest of pleasures when I first laid my eyes on it. I later found out that there were words such as "pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism" and "pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis" which were longer than "floccinaucinihilipilification" but that did not diminish the significance of that moment in my life.
I still remember that moment and I know I always will.
