Language is like a mule. It has an energy all its own. It will carry a burden dutifully until it drops. But there will be occasions when it just won’t do what it’s told.
Feminists have shown that we can change the way we speak, sing and worship. ‘God created man in his image’ must go. Henry Ford has done something similar. Words that were irreplaceable in the days of ostlers, saddlers and farriers have been superseded by words suited to the days – soon to be gone – of petrol and internal combustion.
But – and this is where the mule comes in – some language cannot be wrested out of its traditional shape.
Think of a dog, any dog – the akita or the chihuahua that takes its owner for a walk every day past your window. When we use the word ‘dog’ we include both male and female. If we wish to particularise, we use the word ‘bitch’. This, unfortunately, has acquired other than merely zoological significance. We have to be careful how we use it. When we talk of ducks, we again include male and female. To particularise we have to use the word ‘drake’. Unless we use the expression ‘playing ducks and drakes’ we are unlikely to use the word at all. It is a word without a future.
When we speak of a woman of high status, we address her as ‘Ma’am’. This is blameless – until we remember than it is an abbreviation of ‘madam’ and that has awkward overtones, the least of which is to refer to a little girl as’ a real madam’. If the high status is marked by the title ‘dame’, we have a word with a long-standing reputation as a colloquial term not to be relished, not far removed from the word ‘broad’.
Which causes us to notice the difficulty of keeping old familiar words when they have become an embarrassment. I have commented before on the tricky word ‘lord’. Why keep the expression ‘House of Lords’ when it could well be ‘House of Lords and Ladies’? No serious takers for that one. Better to use the word ‘senate’ Even that has an untoward history, coming as it does ultimately from the Latin ‘senex’, meaning ‘old man’. But that is no longer in mind.
In short there are limits to our ability to transform our language. We can hardly avoid the pronoun ‘he’ when we speak of God. The indeterminate ‘ they’ which comes readily (and regrettably) to mind to avoid the issue elsewhere seems out of place – until we remember that we are speaking of a Trinity. But habit will rule. Language is like a mule.
‘IN OUR DNA’
Paul Langham is Vicar of Christ Church, Clifton, Bristol. One of the features of his church is Kingdom Creatives. Erica Bebb, pastor for the arts, says: ‘We believe creativity is in our DNA.’ The church encourages initiatives and interest in artistic activity.
HE ZOOMED IN
Andrew Beavis has been Vicar of Christ Church, Woking, Surrey for a year. He was instituted by Zoom during lockdown and leads a ministry team including Thea Smith, who has played football since the age of seven and has also taken her place in the Archbishop’s cricket team against a Vatican team.
HMC DEVON
Sue Roberts is Team Rector of the Honiton Mission Community. That means she looks after Awlescombe, Buckerell, Combe Raleigh, Cotleigh, Gittisham and Honiton. Her extensive oversight is reflected in the multi-layered website that gives each parish a fair innings. It makes for a jumbo-sized website.
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