As the two or three regular readers of my blog know, I am a fan of language and words. I think part of this stems from the fact that I love reading the written word and part from the fact that I spend most of my waking hours either reading or writing (or, perhaps its the other way around: that my love of reading and career choice have root in my love of language). Regardless, here is pondering I had while riding the bus to work:
The "big idea" is that it is very interesting to me how moving one little word around a sentence can have a significant effect on the "flavor" and tone of the phrase. Here is an example, taken from a real-life experience this morning:
-I overheard a woman speaking Russian into her cell phone on my bus this morning.
-I overheard a Russian woman speaking into her cell phone on my bus this morning.
-I overheard a woman speaking into her Russian cell phone on my bus this morning.
-I overheard a woman speaking into her cell phone on my Russian bus this morning.
OK, I know this isn't the most profound, "Deep Thoughts" type of observation, but I found it interesting how different the sentence was just by moving the word "Russian" around. Perhaps you did too?
P.S. For the grammatically obsessed among you, check out Eats Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss.
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