More from the hedgehog book

Finally! Someone who shares the same feelings for language as me! Two more quotations from The Elegance of the Hedgehog. The first is just poignantly romantic, and the second one is a soapbox I'm very familiar with.

"Can you bring it to the cleaner's?" asks the hen.

Why must comedy always turn to tragedy? To be sure, I also misuse language on occasion, although I tend to use such abuses as weapons...

I am therefore not so sensitive that a minor misuse will cause me to lose my reason. One must concede to others what one tolerates in onself...And yet, there is an element of tragedy. I flinched when she said bring and at that very moment Monsieur Something also flinched, and our eyes met. And since that infinitesimal nanosecond when--of this I am sure--we were joined in linguistic solidarity by the shared pain that made our bodies shudder, Monsieur Something has been observing me with a very different gaze.

The gifts of fate come with a price. For those who have been favored by life's indulgence, rigorous respect in matters of beauty is a non-negotiable requirement. Language is a bountiful gift, and its usage, an elaboration of community and society, is a sacred work. Language and usage evolve over time: elements change, are forgotten or reborn, and while there are instances where transgression can become the source of an even greater wealth, this does not alter the fact that to be entitled to the liberties of playfulness or enlightened misusage when using language, one must first and foremost have sworn one's total allegiance. Society's elect, those whom fate has spared from the servitude that is the lot of the poor, must consequentyly, shoulder the double burden of worshipping and respecting the splendors of language. Finally, Sabine Pallieres's misuse of punctuation constitutes an instnce of blasphemy that is all the more insidious when one considers that there are marvelous poets born in stinking caravans or high-rise slums who do have for beauty the sacred respect taht it is so rightfully owed.

To the rich, therefore, falls the burden of Beauty. And if they cannot assume it, then they deserve to die.

So I'm not sure I feel quite as strongly as her about this...but our God afterall, is a God of LANGUAGE! My uncle was trying to understand how I pray, and he couldn't get past the idea that I don't just concentrate on the object of the cross. While the cross is a wonderful concept to meditate on, it is no more than a concept--a historical location for something wonderful that God accomplished there. There is nothing more significant about a cross necklace or symbol on the wall than to say "remember what happened." It in itself is not a holy item. More important is the God who worked such wonders, and He is a God with no form except for language! In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. I mean, God choses to represent Himself through words. It's amazing.

And if that's not a good reason to study language and to love words, then I don't know what is.