On the face of it a walking stick is like a rolling stone. A rolling stone revolves and moves. A walking stick moves like a human – on two legs – doesn’t it? But we all know that language, like human nature, may be odd but it is not an affront to common sense. A walking stick may fail to have any obvious meaning but it is not without meaning. We just have to look below the surface.
Pundits will scramble to help us. The word ‘gerund’ will be heard. We shall be reminded that everyday idioms are not quite what they seem. When we say it is raining cats and dogs, we know that this is homely rhetoric. It doesn’t need any explaining. It’s just that we are so accustomed to using language in an effective way that it doesn’t occur to us to seek out a literal meaning.
And this is where language goes its two separate ways. One way is the way of administration, of law, of plain and evident significance. We can’t do without this kind of language when we buy a property, give lost people directions and tell a visitor where the cutlery is to be found. This is a factual, informative, precise use of language. It is at home in texting, in medical prescriptions, in keeping track of petty cash.
The other way language can go is the way of street-speech. This is colourful, catching and enjoyable. Kipling was good at it. So was Chaucer. The fact that both these men were poets has something to do with it. The language of poetry can be close to the gutter or highly elevated. It suggests rather than defines. It often means something quite different from what the words at first indicate.
The language of poetry is akin to the language of religion. When we are told that Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’ he was seen as making poetic use of language (John 14.6). We get the meaning even if we may be hard-pushed to give a satisfactory explanation in prosaic terms.
STICKS AND CANES
A stick will take a full weight; a cane will merely aid balance. The varieties of sticks and canes are numerous. The Irish have the shillelagh, a cudgel with a knob on the end for defence purposes. The knobkerrie in Eastern and Southern Africa is similar. Mountaineers are familiar with the alpenstock. Senior citizens often favour the folding stick. The sword-stick had its hey-day in the Victorian era.
In 2 Kings 6.6 we read of Elisha using a stick to make an iron axe-head float. In Acts 3.28 we read that Paul had gathered up sticks to put on a fire when a viper bit him. When he proved to be unharmed, he was reckoned to be divine.
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