When I first came across a Glen Campbell record and read the title Wichita Lineman, www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qoymGCDYzU not knowing what Wichita was, this kind of spilled over into not understanding the second word. (I’ll spare you all my thoughts on the importance of context in understanding words – when my daughter was learning to read she seemed oblivious to context and that was one of the things we tried to teach her.) So in my mind this became “Wichita linny-man” except that the word “wichita” got somehow fumbled as I’d never heard it pronounced.
It ought to be obvious to the most casual observer of this blog that words and word-play are a vital part of my existence. They are also the bane of my life. When I was young, before I learned to control words by writing them down, I was completely at their mercy. Alliteration, for example, used to leave me poleaxed: if I needed to say something like “free on Friday afternoon” – I couldn’t. I’d have to resort to circumlocutions such as “available on the last day of the week once I’ve had lunch”. And I used to wonder why people thought I was strange.
Lap dancing
Good news! Seems the government are having a rethink. You need to contact your local council now as they have to respond to the government by 15th August. Further info contact the Fawcett Society (http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=631
They also have a template for writing to your council. http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/documents/SATC%20Template%20letter%20to%20local%20newspaper.doc
Want to finish with a lap-related pun but can’t
