Tondalaya VanLear at Roanoke. We humans love to name things and create new words. We distinguish ourselves with our language, in our life stages as well as in our daily communications.
Small children name their stuffed toys and their imaginary friends.
I'm glad my daughter translates for me because listening to a whole conversation of these words and understanding the language is impossible without interpretation. My great hope is that one day her speech will return to a reasonable dialect of English. I remind myself of my own passage along these defining years and that the persistent efforts of my middle school and high school teachers emerged soon enough. These educators taught me, through their belief in both me and the power of language, to examine my words, ask questions, dig at information, and find the roots where meaning, like a rich vein of gold, lies hidden and waiting for the first strike that reveals its brilliance and abundance. O.K., I get a little carried away sometimes with the beauty and mystery of language.