A little bit of Paradis

Paradis | October 14, 2009

Okay…One of the most common things we all say, yet how did it all start? What prompted someone to say that in the first place? Well, this has always been fiercely debated, and there are many answers.

The first publicly recorded use of the term OK, was by Andrew Jackson, the 7th president of the US, and was used in context of everything being ‘Orl Korrect’ The first use of OK was printed a newspaper, the Boston Morning Post in 1839, by CG Green as a reference to Old Kinderbrook, the nickname for Martin Van Buren, who was the 8th president, who’s home town was Kinderbrook, New York. The African slave languages Ewe and Wolof, both contained the word okay, to mean good. And even predating that, the naitive american Choctow language had the term okay, meaning good

The American anecdotal explanation of railroad clerk Obidiah Kelly marking every parcel that he handled with his initials is probably not true, nevertheless the myth itself helped establish the term. Perhaps just as tenuously, from the early 1800’s the French term ‘Aux Quais’, meaning ‘at or to the quays’ was marked on bales of cotton in the Mississippi River ports, as a sign of the bale being handled or processed and therefore ‘okayed’. (The modern-day French public notice ‘acces aux quais’, means to the trains.)

In a similar vein, women-folk of French fishermen announced the safe return of their men with the expression ‘au quai’ (meaning ‘back in port’, or literally ‘at the quayside’).
The expression ‘0 Killed’ was a standard report on the night’s fatalities during the First World War, 1914-18.

In Europe, The Latin term ‘Omnes Korrectes’ was traditionally marked on students test papers to mean ‘all correct’.

The Greek ‘ola kala’ means ‘all is well’. The Finnish ‘oikea’ means correct. Scottish ‘och aye’ means ‘yes’ or ‘for sure’ (from the Scottish pronunciation of ‘oh, aye’, aye being old English for yes). In the Victorian era, during the British occupation of India, the natives could not speak English very well, so “all correct” sounded like “orl krect”. This was soon shortened to OK, hence our modern usage of the term.

Paradis

Category: About Writing, Word of the Day |
Tags: About Writing, Facts, Words

Paradis | October 12, 2009

I often ask people what is their definition of a writer.
They usually tell me: Somebody who has published books or articles or A person who makes their living by writing.
I disagree. I think somebody who writes everyday and looks at the workday world through the prism of literature and words is a writer. Period.

If a person everyday honestly strives to get at the heart of a matter and glean the truth out of the complexity of this world and we human beings through the written word, than that person is a writer, in my opinion. It is a matter of attitude and a way of life, not how you pay your bills or whether you have talent or not.

You must write every single day of your life.
I wish craziness and foolishness and madness upon you.
Ray Bradbury

Category: About Writing |
Tags: About Writing, Bradbury

Paradis | October 12, 2009

William Blake called the senses ‘the doors of perception’

When we read a book, attend a concert, or simply visit with a friend, we perceive the world through our senses. We aren’t as aware of our environments as we might be. Sensory data is the raw material of writing.

Select an object you have with you now–a pen, a ring, a watch, a shoe, a book–and start writing about it. If you have a favorite possession with you, that’s fine, but what you pick isn’t important. Almost anything will do.

Talking with friends, we shape our thoughts freely and spontaneously as words rise to our attention and find their way into conversation. We discover what to say by saying it, and in the process often surprise ourselves with fresh insights and powerful language. Freewriting  is an attempt to capture that same verbal energy on paper.
Freewriting means just what it says: writing freely, without restrictions.

Practice freewriting for 20 minutes. You’ll be amazed at how much you can write in such a short time. Just start right in. Don’t worry about not having anything to say. If that’s what you find yourself thinking, just write, “I don’t have anything to say,” and keep going from there. As long as you keep your fingers moving, something will be drawn out of you.

Write about how you feel about writing; whether you like it or not, whether you’ve had much experience, what you think you need to work on most, what you’d like to write, or whatever else you want to say about writing.

One of the hardest things you can do is empty your mind of thoughts.  You have the thoughts, just write them down. You don’t have to show this to anyone!
Try “looping” your freewriting. Look back over an earlier freewrite and find a sentence or phrase that stands out for you. Write it down and use it as the starting point for a new freewrite.

Paradis

Category: About Writing |
Tags: About Writing