Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Contractions -- Don't Worry'bout't

So, in my last post I put to use one of the oldest conventions in the English language - the contraction. This is that beautiful little rule that allows us - and by "us" I mean mostly "me", because you can do what you want - to turn longer phrases and words into smaller language bits that are easier to say and type (you don't even have to use the 'Shift' key to hit the apostrophe!).

So "wen't" isn't a real contraction you say? I dare say it is. "Wen't", as almost all of us know, is a contraction of the phrase "were on our way to".

Yes, it is the second "e" in "were" that's included in the contraction. That's just the way it is.

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about contractions. "But Gable, don't you have more important things to be thinking about, like gastric lymphomas, arterial shunting, and how to differentiate appenditis from acute colitis?"

As we all know, marriage is a compromise...maybe naming conventions after a marriage should follow the law of the contraction. Rather than the wife taking the husbands last name, or sticking with her maiden name, or doing the ridiculous two-names-connected-by-a-hyphen thing (hyphens are just obnoxious - to say and to type), perhaps when two people get married they should form a new last name as a contraction of their own last names.

For example, my last name is Moffitt, and my wife's given last name is Bullock, so we've got two options. Since I don't want to have the negative, violent associations that go along with "Bullitt", I think we'll go with the much more innocuous "Moffock". Definitely much better.

56 comments:

Lisa said...

From a quick Google search:
"Word History: Why do we say went and not goed? Go has always had an unusual past tense, formed from a completely different root from its present tense. The replacement within a series of inflected forms of one form by a completely unrelated form is called suppletion. (Another, even more extreme, example of suppletion in English is found in the paradigm be, am, are, was, whose forms are originally from four different verbal roots.) The past tense of go in Old English was ode, formed from an unrelated root that has no other verb forms in English. Its modern replacement, went, derives from old forms of the modern verb wend. In Middle English the original past tense and past participle of wenden, 'to go, turn,' were wended and wend, respectively. The forms wente and went appeared around 1200 and gradually displaced the older wended and wend. The new past tense wente also took on a new use as the past tense of go, replacing ode. By the beginning of the Modern English period, around 1500, went was no longer used in any other way and was therefore felt to be the normal past tense of go; at the same time, wend acquired the new form wended for its past tense and past participle, meaning 'turned.'"

Boo. Ya.

And I like Moffock. I agree, hyphens are incredibly annoying.

Chelsea said...

You thought we were teased with the last name of Moffitt. Your poor kids would be tortured with the last name of Moffock!

Anonymous said...

I think Bullitt makes us tough. No one will mess with our kids with a last name like that.

Chrissy said...

haha (thought I'd sneak on the scene again and offer a laugh ;)

currently dating someone whose last name is Oliverson. I'm a Freeman. So we've got: Oliverman or Freeson. Or Olifree. Sonman. Don't wanna get carried away... besides none of them are all that exciting.

JakieWakie said...

No comments on the inauguration? I'm surprised.

Anonymous said...

I think Bullitt makes us tough. No one will mess with our kids with a last name like that.


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