Words and what they mean

This really is a bit of grump - my spelling has always been awful and my handwriting illegible. Until I got a word processor, thanks to Alan Sugar, I could not write anything meaningful - which accounts for leaving school with no qualifications, but once I did get my PC I had the confidence to go to college and graduated when I was 40.

So it is no surprise, having struggled to write, I find the modern idiom of using text language or substituting media for the written word is dumbing down. Our language is rich with hidden meaning, I wish I had learnt Latin - as so many words can be decoded and their origins understood, but all languages are the same. The old story about Eskimos - sorry Inuit, having a mulitude words for snow is probably true because they need them. Equally when a new subject area emerges one of the first things we need is a language in which we can discuss it - so every specialist disciplin has its own language. Interestingly detractors often refer to the language used as jargon - but I suppose what they mean is the inappropriate use of specialist language - lets face it if you are trying to communicate with a non specialist you need to use 'plain english'.

So if like me you are interested in language, words and their origins, which is where this post started I have come across an interesting site on the meaning of words - word origins.