Last week I announced an “ultraconserved words” poetry contest. (If you missed it, read here.) A quick re-cap: write a poem using 15 of the 23 words that some linguists believe have been around since the end of the last ice age. The words are: I, we, thou, ye, who, this, that, what, mother, male/man, not, worm, […]
MoreExpect Nothing by Alice Walker Expect nothing. Live frugally On surprise. become a stranger To need of pity Or, if compassion be freely Given out Take only enough Stop short of urge to plead Then purge away the need. Wish for nothing larger Than your own small heart Or greater than a […]
MoreA controversial study just released by a group of historical linguists proposes that twenty-three words still in use today have survived mostly unchanged from the end of the last ice age. Using statistics, the researchers have tried to prove that these 15,000-year old “ultraconserved” words come from one mother tongue. That language, which they […]
MoreSo We’ll Go No More a Roving By Lord Byron (George Gordon) So, we’ll go no more a roving So late into the night, Though the heart be still as loving, And the moon be still as bright. For the sword outwears its sheath, And the soul wears out the breast, And […]
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