UK and Eire: The English Language

I've always loved the language. Sometimes I just sit down and read the dictionary. Reading, many years ago, 'The Story of English', by Robert McCrum, gave me a new perspective on my native tongue. ( Since then the book has been made into a TV series.) 'The Story of English' indicates that English is one of the richest languages in the world, with the one of the largest vocabularies due to its adaptability and readiness to accommodate foreign words.

Think your pocket Oxford Dictionary is a substantial volume containing lots of words? Think again. Try visiting a major library and viewing the Complete Oxford Dictionary - more than twenty massive tomes, including the supplements.

Using English as my writing medium is like painting a word-picture using over three hundred thousand unique shades of colour. I revel in employing archaic and obsolete words also - not to perplex readers, but because a) I like to rescue rarities and b) I am excited by the subtle nuances inherent therein.

(c) 2009 Cecilia Dart-Thornton