Right Glory – Orthodoxy in Its Own Language

Ancient Faith Ministries ^ | March 12, 2021 | Fr. Stephen Freeman

[Carpe Cerevisi]

When I was in grad school, I had a term paper graded and returned to me. In it, was a phrase, circled in red, with an explanation and an exclamation mark. It read: “Double modal!” The offending phrase was “might could.” I looked at the phrase, which seemed perfectly acceptable to my ear, and puzzled over it. I consulted my wife, the English major. She politely explained to me that my very common Southern dialect expression was considered “bad grammar.” Interestingly, it is acceptable German grammar (and was once, undoubtedly, good English grammar, somewhere). One of the things that puzzled me was that the delicate provisionality of the expression would be difficult to say in another manner. I settled for something less. Language is a powerful part of the culture in which we live. It not only allows us to express our thoughts, it is the very stuff of which our thoughts are made.

My grad school experience was a grammar-conflict with a Canadian professor. It is quite possible that she had never heard the expression before. For me, despite my education, the expression “sounded” perfectly fine. It had always been part of my culture. In college, I majored in classical languages, Latin and Greek. They were a slow immersion in an artifact of a foreign culture. I recall being puzzled when reading in the letters of Pliny the Younger. He explained to his correspondent that he had not been able to read any that day because he had a sore throat! I was certain that I was somehow not understanding what was on the page in front of me. Turns out (surprise), that, at that point in antiquity, reading was something done aloud.

[Pollster1]

Good commentary, well worth reading!