Out of the Games Cupboard

A random assortment of reflections, musings and a running commentary on life.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Yummy or tasty...

Being two and a half Ellie's language skills are quickly developing. She has used the words 'yummy' and 'tasty' for sometime. Interestingly though she uses 'tasty' to mean 'horrible' when referring to food. Lisa and I think this may be because when people have tried to persuade her to eat something she doesn't like they have said something along the lines of "go on...have a bit...it's really tasty!"

This reminded me of a conversation I had with an English student back in my undergraduate days. He was explaining how the creation of the English Dictionary in some ways sounded the death knell for the English langauge. Until its publication there was no 'right or wrong' way of spelling words and there meaning was determined by their usage, not by a written definition. (Although definitions do change across time and geography he admitted).

So, in the pre-dictionary days people would not look quizzically at Ellie as she spits out food (neatly) declaring it to be "tasty"; she would simply be interpreting the word her own way and that would be just as valid as anyone else's usage!

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