Friday 27 December 2013

Lost in Conversation

HEAD DOODLING BACK

“That’s funny”, I said.

 And then I said:
“Well, not FUNNY funny –
 
as in: AMUSING, 
HUMOROUS, 
COMIC 
or ABSURD  . . .

no – certainly –  
not ABSURD, at all, 
really – that is THE last word . . .

H-m-m-m-m-m,
actually UPROARIOUS
is the last word I would use –

right after HILARIOUS, HUMDINGER,  
LUDICROUS and WHAT-A-HOOT!

Although, WHAT-A-HOOT is three words,  
and I don’t mean to confuse.

That’s it:

confuse!  confused! – CONFUSING  . . . 
or possibly – BEMUSED . . .

Well not so much BEMUSED –
more like PUZZLING

No – o – o - o  . . . . PERPLEXING ! ! !
 
PERPLEXING – that’s the word –  
That is what I’m trying to say.

PERPLEXING . . .  
in an ODD, CONFUSING, MUDDLED sort of way ! ! !"

note:  Writing poetry, I am often struck by the many, many peculiarities of the English language - and I have tremendous respect for people who must sort through them all, when learning English as a second language.  It has to be a taunting task.  One small example of this is the adjective "funny".  Who amongst us has not uttered the phrase: "that's funny" - only to quickly follow up with: "well, not funny-funny".  The verbal gymnastics of stating something, only to back-flip and attempt to fix what you have just said is (let's face it) funny - or perhaps even FUNNY funny. 

photos:  Tea and Conversation?  (The Roedde House Museum) - W. Bourke and Circling the Maze - W. Bourke

© 2013 Wendy Bourke

4 comments:

  1. That's funny, as in FUNNY funny. :)

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  2. Thanks, Janet. I had a lot of fun (which, of course, has nothing to do with funny) writing this verse.

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  3. Language definitely IS funny....ha, not funny, funny indeed! Smiles. Your poem made me realize how often it IS that we use some kind of indistinct language that we then find ourselves explaining.

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    1. I've heard that is more the case with English than with other languages. It would be interesting to find out if bilingual and multilingual folks agree, though.

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