Words...

As someone who takes pride in the way he communicates and the choice of his words, I have been paying a lot of attention lately to the beauty in words and on the joys of good writing. The beauty of using plain simple phrases, when weaved carefully by a skilled wordsmith, to conjure such intricate sentiments and ideas.

Take for example, this touching obituary for a language from the Economist that shimmers with vivid imagery and the apt use of metaphor.

As a child she had longed to be a pilot, flying boat-planes between the islands of the Sound. An impossible dream, she was told, because she was a girl. As an old woman, she said she believed that Eyak might be resurrected in future. Just as impossible, scoffed the experts: in an age where perhaps half the planet's languages will disappear over the next century, killed by urban migration or the internet or the triumphal march of English, Eyak has no chance. For Mrs Smith, however, the death of Eyak meant the not-to-be-imagined disappearance of the world.

Another moving passage recently was the apology offered by Paul Rudd on behalf of his government to the Aboriginal people of Australia.

We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.

We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.

For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.

To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.

And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.

The prose was simple and heartfelt. Yet this text was carefully drafted to avoid any further incriminating concessions by the present administration to compensatory claims.

More later...