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Date: | Sun, 30 Jan 2000 00:55:43 EST |
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Prince,
As if you know why I requested Ebrima Ceesay to send me a copy of The
Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English. I did this because much as
I love to read all postings to the L for what they are worth, frankly most of
them speak above my understanding for some reason. I have two different
dictionaries, one with a Thesaurus but most of those words you listed are not
found in them, anyway.
This brings me to Bill Clinton's last State of the Union address: The said
speech contained seventeen pages of wonderful economic and political
strategies, nonetheless, reading through these pages, not once was I tempted
to reach out for a dictionary to look up the meaning of a single word . All
the ideas and plan of action were put in simple and straight forward
language. And we are talking here of a Yale/Oxford top of the class student,
an Englishman and a seasoned Politician of remarkable achievements above all.
Similarly, there are many other learned people like him who speak in very
clear and simple English yet very stimulating and/or fun to read their
writings.
Frankly, I love to read Cherno Baba and Hamjatta's articles but of late
they've used so many "English words" that I could not comprehend at all. I
stated this here not for the wrong reason, however, I would urge them to
atleast take the time and include the alternative meaning of most of the
jaw-breaking words they use in brackets/parenthesis for other list members
who may not possess a wealth of English vocabulary like theirs for one reason
or another. Secondly, assuming we all have dictionaries which contain the
meanings of all the big words we sometimes use on the L, time is scarce on
everybody's hands as to spare any for searching all those high-sounding
words. Just a humble plea to all who may be tempted to follow suit.
My apology if I hurt anybody's feelings, I don't intend to, just my
observations.
Good night.
OB Silla.
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