I was gonna keep on trucking, but having no trucking license, I have decided to keep on blogging, instead. I signed up for NaBloPoMo again mainly because this December’s theme is zeitgeist. I adore that word. It has German roots, zeit means time and geist means ghost – as in poltergeist, y’know, which is literally a noisy ghost.
I visited Germany once and realized that if a word wasn’t in my dictionary, I could often figure it out if I broke the word in pieces and looked up each chunk separately. The German language is modular, like Legos.
English reminds me of a big snowball that rolled down a hill, picking up interesting words from all over the world along the way. Makes our spelling illogical, but gives us one heck of a vocabulary. English has more words than many other languages.
Other countries regulate their languages more than we do with English. Spain, for instance, recently, dropped 2 letters from the Spanish alphabet. (Adios “ch” and “ll”!) In the mid-90’s, Belgium’s official language committee changed a spelling rule. As a result, the Flemish word for ‘pancake,’ which had previously been, pannekoek, became, pannenkoek. Some found the new spelling logical, while others were annoyed because no one pronounces that middle ‘n.’
I can’t imagine a committee making English more logical, can you?
#REVERB10
Along with NaBloPoMo, I’ve decided to participate in Reverb 10 this month. Reverb 10 is the brainchild of the dynamic Gwen Bell. Here’s the official description from the Reverb 10 website:
Reverb 10 is an annual event and online initiative to reflect on your year and manifest what’s next. Use the end of your year as an opportunity to reflect on what’s happened, and to send out reverberations for the year ahead
I don’t know how closely I’ll follow the writing prompts for Reverb 10, but I do plan to check out other participant’s blogs. Plus, I like the idea of looking back on the year and planning ahead for 2011.
Are there any end-of-the-year routines you engage in to reflect back upon the previous months?
Tui Snider is an author, speaker, and photographer who specializes in North Texas travel, cemetery symbols, and haunted lore. As she puts it, “I used to write fiction – but then, I moved to Texas!”
Snider’s best-selling books include Paranormal Texas , Understanding Cemetery Symbols, and 100 Things to Do in Dallas - Fort Worth Before You Die.
Snider has several more books in progress, and enjoys connecting with writers and readers all over the globe through social media, her newsletter and her website: TuiSnider.com.
I’m doing NaBloPoMo and Reverb10. So far the prompts have been pretty good and they’ve got me thinking. I also engage in housecleaning/decluttering at the end of the year. There’s something about going into the new year with a decluttered residence that just makes you feel good.
Paula: Speaking of Nablo, I need to check your blog out – and add you to my blog roll. I plan on doing some housecleaning on this site, but haven’t had a chance lately. A decluttered residence always feels good! :) ~Tui