Ode to the Spoken Word

English language is constantly changing and evolving and I often say a word or phrase of which my children have never heard. For example, my grandson ‘petered the ball’ or knocked it over the fence. There are a few phrases that I dislike such as ‘pull your socks up’, ‘stiff upper lip’, ‘warts and all’, and ‘multicultural society’. If people need to ‘pull their socks up’ then they are in need of help and I’m sure that if they could move on, they certainly would. A better phrase would be to ‘let me help you to pull your socks up’. Similarly, why should we show a ‘stiff upper lip’. Britians are reared to conceal emotions, which is utter rubbish. This results in suppressed anxiety and stress which inevitably affects the physical body sometime in life. I have seen this result time and time again in the stress and anxiety courses that I ran, particularly in men, so please, get rid of that upper lip syndrome and learn to express thoughts and feelings.

‘Warts and all’ is an old Catholic phrase that speaks of God’s unconditional love, but it points to the fact that most people do not accept the ‘warts’ as society strives for perfection with plastic surgery and botox. ‘Multicultural society’ is often used to depict the changing society of Britiain, but we are a long way towards actual integration which should be hand in hand with multiculturalism. We may have many cultures but there is still a tendency to stay within that culture and I fear that I will not witness true integration within my lifetime.

Life is full of ‘would’ve’, ‘could’ve’ and ‘should’ve’. When you imagine all the different paths that result from a single decision or course of action, it can be mind boggling. I have umpteen ‘would’ve’, ‘could’ve’ and ‘should’ves’ over the course of my lifetime but equally as many ‘did do’, so I suppose I acted  with the help of experience and learnt judgements. The ‘what if’ in life can be a disastrous thought and should only be used to learn and then to move on.  A ‘what if’ has never happened but sometimes we act as if it has. Perhaps it should be banned from the English language. 

So I will take my warts and all and walk out into my multicultural society, keeping a stiff upper lip against our typical British weather and hope that I don’t need to pull my socks up, otherwise I will be thinking about what I should’ve done and what if I hadn’t done something. Maybe I should curl up with a good book (or kindle) instead!