Dear Editor,
In your January 31 edition in your letter column under the headline ‘A mass of hard words’ Gordon Forte an “émigré from the coastlands” expressed a concern that reflected the view of many of your regular customers.
Mr Forte should know and stand in comfort that he doesn’t stand alone as the only “unqualified” person not able to read some parts of your paper. He said that he couldn’t get more than halfway through the first paragraph of an ex-minister’s letter and was smack on in requesting that your newspaper provide a translation, “just in case there is a gem or germ of an idea hidden in that mass of hard words” Boy! He certainly has my endorsement there. Next to Mr Forte’s legitimate concern was yet another letter addressing exactly the same matter, this time by Dr Alissa Trotz under the caption ‘It is not just what you say but how you say it.’ A good coincidence, and I was tempted to see a contrast between the two writers, but I couldn’t be that careless not knowing Mr Forte. He was in no way being flippant; there was a bit of irony, yes, and he was somewhat provoked no doubt, but made his point loud and clear. Dr Trotz informed us, she had a go at the ex-minister’s missive too: “After taking a break I went back and read it again. And again.”
We were told to look for what it is the author is trying to get over to us. Among a number of things it can simply be “to try to impress upon us how clever or knowledgeable or important he/she is,” and she rightly leaves the reader to judge this particular letter for themselves.
Editor, I have to agree with the sister that while colonial education has served some of our people well, it has damaged others beyond redemption so they sail away into the clouds, giving them false overbearing feelings of self-importance. I remember trying to crawl through a letter written in the Stabroek News of January 28, 2014 – can’t remember the headline but I commented on it in the Wednesday edition of SN February 19, 2014 under the caption ‘More `Gibberish.’’ Here is a part of what I wrote:
“I read it once, twice, thrice, lo and behold! I’m not getting it, so I had to conclude, boy you are definitely out of your league here; this letter was not meant for people of your ilk. There was an invisible sign placed mid-way which I didn’t see until my third attempt… in my mind’s eye I saw: ‘here within laymen dare not dwell, not for the slow on the uptake.’”
Editor, nothing is wrong with sending one to the dictionary now and again – that’s refreshing. I concede that there are times when you see certain articles, headlines and names and you put them aside for careful reading. You anticipate them to be somewhat recondite and not run-of-the-mill terminologies and expressions. That is something we can understand; there is no law against helping people to learn. At the end there might be an eye opener – you have learned. So yes, there are times and there are times, but some want to drag you through an ordeal because they consider themselves “better and brighter than those who don’t have the fancy words under their belt.” The Jamaican singer Ernie Smith sang: “I get my kicks from watching people going to and fro…” Well we all get our kicks differently – don’t we! And the sister is so on target again, stating “that they can do all kinds of things to people in the name of those words and that book knowledge and belief that we are brighter and better.”
And really we cannot fuss over folks being dazzled by their own brilliance – that’s their prerogative.
“Words are like leaves, and where they most abound, much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found.”
Yours faithfully,
Frank Fyffe
