[Warning: This post may contain traces of Coldplay.]
I can't remember whether or not we've had this discussion, [no, not about the merits of Coldplay, this is my blog, and while you're here you'll just have to put up with my musical preferences ...]
No, I mean the discussion about my 'Word of the Year 2011'? Did I ever mention it? If I can't remember ... I really don't expect you to, but either way ... the word I chose was 'And'.
I can't honestly say it has become anything I consciously think about day-in day-out. But neither have I entirely forgotten about it.
To be truthful, my decision to go for 'And' probably had a lot to do with my fondness for ampersands. [Which, now I've said that out loud sounds more weird then it was just in my punctuation-mark-loving-head!].
James gave me the wooden '&' for Christmas and Kirsty sent me the necklace, both of which hang in the hallway:
I made the page for a feature in Issue 27 of Creativity! Magazine and was just reminded of it when sifting through my picture folders over the last few days for past magazine projects to post to my Flickr gallery.
Apart from loving the ampersand ... I also chose 'And' because it's a positive word: this and that; me and you; and then what?; and after that?; and .. and .. and ...
It contains its own company. It sits in-between two other things.
It promises more. It hints at a future.
It implies something else is on its way, coming up next.
It reflects my tendencies to get distracted, to start new things, take on another idea, another project and then another.
And ... and this is where Coldplay make their appearance. When I heard their latest song:
One line in particular leapt out at me making me smile in recognition. When I heard the words:
"I'd rather be a comma than a full-stop"
... I thought ... "Yes! That's it! That's what I meant when I chose 'And'!"
I too would rather be a comma than a full-stop. Commas are open to the possibility of more, they leave the path open for something to follow on behind, they're another way of saying say 'and then ... and then ... and then ...'.
And ... should I ever decide to get a tattoo that means something to me, I'm thinking that a '&' and a ',' might be relatively painless option!
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OK, enough of me and my Coldplay/punctuation tendencies. I'll hand over to you to confess:
- Did you choose a word of the year?
- Have you lived by it, or forgotten all about it?
- Do you have a secret crush on any particular punctuation marks? Are you slyly eyeing up my last question mark? Are you?
Thanks for reading me today ... and all the other days too.
Julie x
Posts
I seem to like this..!!!! I appear to use it a lot! I almost feel like my eyebrows are always perched up in a 'tutting' or sarcastic way! I don't think I use it the right places half the time! My grammer took a hit after I left school for some reason (and English was always my best!)
ReplyDeleteLoved ur LO in the mag by the way. I have loads of the letters in my stash and it was great to try a new technique with them instead of painting all the time.
I seem to like this..!!!! I appear to use it a lot! I almost feel like my eyebrows are always perched up in a 'tutting' or sarcastic way! I don't think I use it the right places half the time! My grammer took a hit after I left school for some reason (and English was always my best!)
ReplyDeleteLoved ur LO in the mag by the way. I have loads of the letters in my stash and it was great to try a new technique with them instead of painting all the time.
Do you know what? I did do a word of the year and I can't even remember now what it was! How bad is that?
ReplyDeleteI love 'and' and how you have made me think about it in a whole new light - you're right though.
I think my favourite sign at the moment is * whatever the name for that is. I have a slight addiction to doing actions inbetween. Know what I mean? *raises eyebrow questioningly*
Cool and artsy page! :)
ReplyDeleteI do not have a word of the year. But I do find that have an affinity for (*) asterisks (maybe more for the word) and the ellipsis... leaves one to want more... and may just work with YOUR word of the year...and then...
ReplyDelete*wink*
!!!! are my thing, as are () lol. Great post Julie.
ReplyDeleteC
xx
The problem with commas is they allow things to go on and on. With a fullstop the sentence comes to an end-but then you can always start a new sentence.
ReplyDeleteMy problem is I'm a comma-a starter of things that often remain incomplete. Sometimes I just need to utilize that fullstop more!
I'm with Dogmatix! I'm one of those annoying upbeat people that has to use exclamation marks by the hundred when leaving 'I love it!' comments on people's blogs! See?
ReplyDeleteI'm also a huge fan of the humble comma. Not used by people nearly enough, in my opinion.