Words

"Mom, what if language prevents us from fully experiencing things?"  Bigger Girl was in the mood for a discussion.

What do you mean? i asked.

"Well, think about it.  When we experience something, we immediately search for the words to describe it.  If we didn't have words and language, would we experience it more, or more deeply, because we didn't have to search for words to talk about it?"

Interesting idea, i said, but what about the fact that science seems to show that babies don't form long term memories until they have the words, the language, to describe what they are going through or what is happening?

"But animals don't have words, either, and they form memories.  I mean, they do have their own version of languages or was to communicate, but they have memories.  And what if they experience things more deeply and fully than we because they just take it in, without having to analyze and define and quantify it with words?"

Then there's Helen Keller, i noted.  She had very few memories, from what i gather, from before she learned sign language, and the few things she did remember were things she developed her own sign language for.  It would be interesting to ask someone like her if she experienced things more deeply before she had language and words.

"Yeah, it would be interesting.  Oh, and something I found out today.  When I wear this collar that looks like a dog collar, it's Soccer Mom repellant!  The moms all look at me and herd their children away from me!  That will come in handy some day, I bet."

Most likely, i noted drily.


Today is:

Another Look Unlimited Day -- sponsored by Envira Myntyl, a day to look around and see what you don't need and can donate to charity, to lessen the flow to landfills

Armed Forces Day -- Taiwan

Concordia Fall Festival -- Concordia, MO (celebrating agriculture and the German heritage of the area; through Saturday)

Cromwell's Day -- The Cromwell Association holds a service at his statue on his death date

Day to Mourn All Manifestations of Sexism -- in honor of passage of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women

Day of Universal Alarm -- Fairy Calendar (no one remembers what to be alarmed about, which is what is so alarming, at least to the Fairies)

Feast of San Marino and the Republic -- San Marino

Flag Day -- Australia

Macchina di Santa Rosa -- Viterbo, Italy (St. Rose, patron of the city, celebration begins this evening at 9pm sharp)

Merchant Navy Remembrance Day -- Canada

National Welsh Rarebit Day

National Wilderness Day -- US (commemorates passage of The Wilderness Act in 1964)

Play Days -- sponsored by the HUMOR Project, add humor to your life; through Saturday

Skyscraper Day -- birth anniversary of Louis H. Sullivan in 1856, architect credited with some of the first skyscrapers

South Carolina Apple Festival -- Westminster, SC, US (through Saturday)

St. Gregory the Great's Day (Inventor of Gregorian Chant; Patron of choir boys, educators, masons, musicians, papacy, Popes, schoolchildren, singers, stone masons, stonecutters, students, teachers; England; Kercem, Malta; Legazpi, Philippines; Montone, Italy; San Gregorio nelle Alpi, Italy; West Indes; against gout and plague)

St. Marinus' Day (Patron and founder of San Marino; also Patron of bachelors, deacons, and falsely accused people)

Tokehega Day -- Tokalau (remembrance of the Treaty of Tokehega)


Birthdays Today:

Charlie Sheen, 1965
Mort Walker, 1923
Kitty Carlisle Hart, 1914
Alan Ladd, 1913
Uncle Sam, 1813 (Image first used this date.)
Anna, Duchess of Bedford, 1783 (in 1840, she began the tradition of afternoon tea)
Nicolo Amati, 1596


Today in History:

Sextus Pompeius, son of Pompey, is defeated in the Battle of Naulochus by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, admiral of Octavian, which ends the resistance to the Second Triumvirate, BC36
Saint Marinus founds San Marino, one of the smallest nations in the world and the world's oldest republic still in existence, 301
Consecration of Pope Gregory the Great, 590
King Richard I (the Lionheart) crowned, and 30 Jews are massacred as part of the celebration, 1189
Richard Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England, 1658
The first large group of Swiss and German colonists reach the shores of North and South Carolina areas, 1709
The Flag of the United States is flown in battle for the first time, 1777
Signing of the Treaty of Paris, end of the US Revolutionary War, 1783
John Dalton, English scientist begins using symbols to represent different atomic elements, 1803
The first daily newspaper, a "penny paper", that actually succeeded, The Sun (New York), begins publication, as well as employing the first paper boys, 1833
Outbreak of the Greek revolution against the autocratic rule of King Otto, 1843
William, Prince of Albania, leaves the country after six months because of opposition to his rule, 1914
Sir Malcolm Campbell reaches a speed of 304.331 miles per hour on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, becoming the first person to drive an automobile over 300 mph, 1935
68th and final transport of Dutch Jews, including Anne Frank and her family/friends, leaves for Auschwitz, 1944
Wally Gator premiers, 1962
Dagen H in Sweden: traffic changes from driving on the left to driving on the right overnight, 1967
The Viking 2 spacecraft lands at Utopia Planitia on Mars, 1976
Russia and the People's Republic of China agree not to target each other with nuclear weapons, 1994
An 87-automobile pile-up happens on Highway 401 freeway just East of Windsor, Ontario, Canada after an unusually thick fog from Lake St. Clair, 1999
Iran's Parliament approves the first woman minister in 30 years, confirming the appointment of Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi as Minister of Health, 2009