...Speakin' It Since I was a Kid...

Some of my former coworkers (the BIAS Install and Consulting Team) gave me the nickname of Webster. They did so because it seemed to them that I was never at a loss for a word to use. The name was first applied in Albuquerque while on an install. We were sitting in a restaurant having dinner when someone was trying to think of what the name for an object (I forget what it was) that we were looking at. I though about half a second and then named the item.

"You're a regular Daniel Webster." Quipped one of the people on my team. (And I know what you are thinking - If you know me, that is - you're thinking that I immediately jumped on the comment and pointed out that Daniel Webster Congressman and they were trying to name Noah Webster, the lexicographer. But I didn't; I let it pass.)

Well, the "Webster" part stuck. I occasionally want to scream "Read a book!" at the people who accuse me of talking above their heads. I have no delusion that I am any outstanding intellect. I have an adequate intelligence, an interest in learning, and a desire to find out new things. It sometimes surprises me at the words I use that get questioned. This is one of the reasons I love coming over to this side of the Atlantic. They use the language! It's eerie. It is almost as if they invented it or something. (Though we all know it was the Germans who can claim the credit for that one.)

I think of this because of two things that happened yesterday. One was that in the Mental Floss quiz there was a question about coins: the "Tails side of the coin is called the "reverse" by numismatists; what do they call the "heads" side? Your choices are a) the Averse, b) the Inverse, c) the Obverse or d) the Transverse

Chatting in the pub last night I mentioned the question because it is really easy to suss out if you know what all these words mean. They looked at me as if to indicate that there was no reason that this should be a question. Another friend of mine, who came to the UK to learn English, asked me to explain. So I explained that "averse" means to have feelings against. "I would not be averse to having another ale."

"Inverse" means to progress in reverse order "If you have traveled to the pub from home, you can get back home by traveling the directions that brought you here in inversely."

"Obverse" means to be facing the observer. "While stage sets may look like brick and mortar on the obverse side, the reverse looks like canvas stretched over a wooden frame."

"Traverse" means to pass over, through, or across. "To traverse the Chunnel, one must board a train."

While explaining this, the person to whom was originally talking said that for an American, I spoke English pretty well. To which I responded with Dad's eloquent response: "I should, I've been speaking it since I was a kid!"

I hope wherever you are today, you are learning something new!

Don Bergquist - 10-February-2006 - Thames Ditton, Surrey, United Kingdom