blahg

I was not yet done with High School–which means, I did not count for much–when some teachers told me that I spoke well, or wrote well, or otherwise had an ease with words.  At the time, I took it as a compliment.  It sent my sense of self worth floating up like a hot air balloon.  That balloon popped against the corner of a dictionary recently, and I realized there is not one, but two classifications of people to whom you can make this ease-with-words comment. 

The first classification would be people who have a deeper-than-average relationship with language.  That is the category in which I’d hoped my erudite teachers had filed me.

The second group would be people without average language skills.  Someone who might appear to face difficulty producing vowel sounds?  If, all of a sudden, one such person said ‘My day was good, thank you…’  Some other person–wearing a white coat, or perhaps a very colorful knit sweater?–might respond:  ‘You have such an ease with words!’

Despite best hopes and intentions, I’ve failed.  My Father prodded me three times lately for definitions of words in something he was reading.  Three times he quizzed me, three times I struck out. 

I may have regressed since High School.  Terrifying prospect, that. 

© Jeffrey Puukka, 2009.