April 7, 2008
Chain
Waking the other morning and remembering to be thankful, it surprised me out of the haze to be grateful for my privileged position in the food chain. Then I thought about God, the one who arranged it. And then Darwin, the one who more or less described it. And then I wondered even more about whether I might become a vegetarian. Or is it vegan? And do they even have a place in some sort of food chain.
But what really sidetracked me as such things often do was the use of “who” or “whom.” First, I remembered a professor who, when asked about these two bothers, would just say, Youm, thass whom, and leave it there and no further. Further not farther (two more!) because it’s an addition, not a distance.
And is all this under the heading of English or Grammar? That is, is it common to more than one language, or is it merely a problem in the English language, or both? My reference book crutches say forget it and get a life. Okay.
A few years ago, I was out on the British hustings riding shotgun with a Church of England circuit rider-reader friend working his Sunday afternoon parishes. At one stop, a wandering presbyter/celebrant was present, invited me to read the Epistle, and I did. Afterward, a member of the congregation told me he was from Canada, had lived right there in that neighborhood in England for twenty years, and how refreshing it was to hear someone read a lection who was from his part of the world.
None of my fellow Texans that I remember ever considered Texas and Canada all that related. Nevertheless, I suppose even language-murdering East Texas twang loses its audiophobic cringe when that far from whome. And thanks be to God whose freedom-giving created accents along with food chains and maybe wished she hadn’t.
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