Words I'd Like to Reclaim: Baggage

It's not as exciting as it used to be.

I admit it, I'm a Word Snob, but hear me out on this one.

Baggage used to be a really positive word. It was what you took with you on holidays. Think back on your first set of baggage: for many of us, a gift of baggage meant we were fully fledged and our parents couldn't wait to help us pack and move out. Our baggage was a symbol of our new independence. Remember investigating all those neat little zippered pockets? Remember planning your first holiday with the new baggage? Remember taking it out into the back yard and jumping up and down on it so it wouldn't scream 'travel virgin'?

Sadly, baggage has lost a lot of its romance. When people talk about their baggage these days, they are referring to the psychological mess they imagine inhabits their brain (no offense to people who actually DO have psychological problems; in my experience, however, they never refer to it as baggage). I used to work with a woman who spent 8 hours every shift going on about her baggage, which, as far as I could tell, was caused mostly by the fact that she was 24 and living with her mother.

Poor baggage. Let me reclaim you. Let me pack you full of cute travel-sized shampoos and mouth-washes. Let me fold my non-iron shirts in your loving embrace; place my smalls in your tender-loving care. Where shall we go? Amsterdam? Istanbul? Reykjavik?

The world is a wide and wonderful place. Pack your bags and leave that other baggage behind you.

Mailbox Monday, 1/28

A robust meme with just a hint of blackberry and lavender, Mailbox Monday was started by Marcie at Mailbox Monday and this month is being hosted by Lori’s Reading Corner.

This week, a lacklustre mailbox means it must be nearing the end of the month. On the plus side, it’s light out by 7am which means that we’re swinging around to spring.

But before I reveal this week’s mailbox, an update: after two years of reading books on e-readers as well as on paper, I think I’ve managed to adapt. However, until an e-book is invented which can be accidently dropped into a bathtub without suffering any ill effects (those bath-bombs play havoc with a touch screen), paper books will remain a major part of my home library.

Del Ray 1982

The first book which appeared this week was David Eddings first book in The Belgariad (a series I read in the early 80’s), which has been revived by my eldest. Pawn of Prophesy begins the adventures of Garion, who never thought himself anything special at all until he's led on a dangerous quest by the people he loves most in the world, and doesn’t know at all. Interestingly, Eddings didn’t write fantasy at all until he found out that The Lord of the Rings was in its 76^th printing.

On the review front, I received Marina in a Green Dress by Alan Davidson. It’s about a woman, Jessica, who finds herself strangely obsessed with a particular West End Musical and writes a long letter to the lead singer in the production, Kennedy Orr. Never having intended for Orr to receive the letter, Jessica is shocked when Orr actually responds. Alan Davidson promises a world in which reality and fantasy become blurred, and as that pretty much describes my life to a ‘T’ (including the obsession with musicals and the first name), I am looking forward to pouring tea and spending some time with Marina in a Green Dress. Look for my review of Alan’s book at I Read a Book Once.

Also up for reviewal, The Faith and Fate of David Ghent by Maren Dille. I Read a Book Once is one stop on Maren’s Book Blog Tour beginning in March. Look for my review on March 6. I could tell you what I think of the book before then, but then I’d have to silence you, which will make a lot of work for me and I’d rather not go there. It’s cold out and I am taking my hibernation very seriously.

Things that make you go 'hmm...'.

"What happened to the future?

We wanted flying cars and we got 140 characters."

Founders Fund

Words I'd Like to Reclaim: Impact

Its impact is still being felt today.

Nothing has had more of an impact on me than the insidious slip of the word impact from noun to verb.

My earliest memory of this vile usage was in 1977 during Star Wars. The climax of the movie was upon us: Luke Skywalker was speeding through the trench of the Death Star when a companion X-Wing fired his torpedos at the space station's Achilles' Heel. A man shouts: "It's away!" as an explosion blossoms promisingly on the screen. But: "That's a negative... just impacted on the surface."

Everyone in the audience groaned, but I may have been the only one who groaned at the use of impact as a verb.

I know, I need to get over it. It was 35 years ago, I was only 7, the Death Star was destroyed, Mark Hamill went on to do The Guyver, etc. But the continued erosion of impact suggests, to me, Imperial entanglement.

There is no reason to use impact as a verb. We have a perfectly good verb extant which works just fine, thank you very much. It's neat, quick and to the point: hit. Now, my husband argued that impact (vb) has a much greater impact (n) than hit. I disagreed and suggested that the impact (n) when I popped him in the nose would feel pretty much the same whether he was hit by me or impacted by me.

Why kidnap a word and put it to wrong usage when there's no gap requiring filling? What did hit ever do to deserve this kind of treatment? It's single-syllablism raising its ugly head again, isn't it? There seems to be a belief that using a word with more syllables, even though it is the wrong word, makes a person look more intelligent (like people who say 'at this moment in time' when everyone knows they really mean 'now'). Trust me. It doesn't.

Will our planet explode? Will the use of impact (v) erase the forces of good in our galaxy? Of course not.

But it's unnecessary obfuscation and, face it, just plain poor use of a fine and noble word that already has enough to do with its time.

Mailbox Monday

The rust adds rural authenticity.

An infectious idea begun by Marcia at Mailbox Monday and hosted in January by Lori's Reading Corner.

This week, courtesy of the library in delightful Dundas, Ontario:

Bloomsbury 2005

The magical house in Drift House got me thinking about that other moving house, Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, so we had to bring it home. I have yet to get my hands on it as it's being devoured by my 10-year-old son. His verdict so far? A distracted, 'Cool', and a return to the book.

Thomas Nelson, 2009

Batson's sixth book and Hopper's third, this is the first book in the Berinfell Prophesies. There are spiders on the cover being ridden by knights, and the word Elves appears on the back cover. That was enough for my eldest. It won the Moonbeam Children's Book Award in 2009, an award which recognises fantastic children's books and their creators, promotes literacy and life-long learning.

Daw 2011, 2012

Gleefully anticipating a real sink-your-teeth in read, I picked up Benjamin Tate's two books. Well of Sorrows is his debut novel and uses American colonisation as a back-drop and then throws in all those lovely fantasy images I love. Leaves of Flame is the sequel. I intend a weekend, a bottle of wine and p.j.'s provided I win that all-inclusive vacation the kind computer-generated lady promised me over the phone the other day.

Deckle Edge, 2011

 In an effort to shake off my obsession with sci fi/fantasy, I began a book club in our area and February's book is The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje. I know exactly what will happen. I will read the book, I will love it, and I will wonder why I don't read him more often. His control of the language is a wondrous thing; he evokes more in the silence between words (not my line, wish it was) than most people do with a forest of letters.

What bundle(s) of joy arrived in your house this week?

Words I'd Like To Reclaim: Grow

Grow, damnit!

The boat sailed long ago on this one, I know. But this morning when I overheard someone recommend that the current government work harder to grow down the deficit, my husband had to physically restrain me.

Grow describes flowers in spring, seedlings, trees. Add absence, and grow makes hearts more fond. Grow up, grow old, grow corn, grow hair in weird places, but for goodness' sake stop growing your business.

I remember the first time I saw grow used as a transitive verb. I was working in a pharmacy and was invited to attend a seminar in which I would learn to grow my business. I called the company and offered my services as an editor, but it was like closing the barn door after the horses had wandered off. It was 1993 and Bill Clinton had already destroyed grow by making grow the economy his presidential banner.

When it comes to living organisms, growing is a pretty heady thing. But a business? An economy? There is no faster way of stripping the magic from grow than slapping it in front of something that's dead.

Increase your business, expand your economy, but for the sake of all that's green and good, leave grow in the nursery where it belongs.

Mailbox Monday

Mailboxes around here suffer from the loving attention of snowplows.

Mailbox Monday was started by Marcia at Mailbox Monday. This month, it is being hosted by Lori's Reading Corner.

Kind of a weird haul, this week, as most of it came from Value Village. But where else can a family of five satisfy their craving for new reads for less than $20?


 Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey won the 1988 Booker Prize, the 1989 Miles Franklin Award, and was shortlisted for The Best of the Booker.

The Golden Bough, A Study in Magic and Religion
by Sir James George Frazer. A little light reading for a snowy Sunday afternoon. Best taken in short doses, to me it is the sine qua non for fantasy writers who want to get it right. Put it on your desk next to Joseph Campbell.


Juliet by Anne Fortier. The descendant of Juliet herself travels to Siena to discover her past and end the curse that has troubled her family since the 14th century. Immaculately researched, I only wish I'd found it as easy to find people who speak perfect English in Siena as Juliet does.


Westlake Soul by Rio Youers. I can't wait to read this. The hero of this novel is in a permanent vegetative state. What a way to become a superhero! The publishers of this novel, ChiZine, have as their byline 'Embrace the Odd'. Well, alrighty, then! I shall, and my review will be posted on I Read a Book Once .

 
The Map of The Sky by Felix J. Palma casts H.G. Wells in the leading role. Add aliens, a love story and a challenge to recreate the invasion of The War of the Worlds, well, how can a girl say no? And did I mention it comes with 3D glasses? Yep... I'm a sucker for a gimmick.


Dragon Art by Graeme Aymer. It's a survey of dragons in contemporary fantasy art, and I have a boy who loves to draw them. Seemed like the perfect match, and the perfect addition (edition?) for our library.

So, lucky readers, what landed in your lap this week?