Important: This post was originally a column written for Nexus - the University of Waikato's weekly magazine. However, it went unpublished because, I think, there wasn't enough room in this week's issue what with it being the last issue for the year. It's all wrap-everything-up themed, so they replaced my column with something way less cool (I read it, and decided it was way less cool). Since it didn't get published there, I decided to publish it here! Naturally, this column is aimed at a university audience, but it's just as relevant for them as it is for everyone else. Read on, if you will.
With the end of the year
approaching, it's time to look back, to reflect, and to let go. Remember when
you let go of that word 'brang'? It's a non-word kids substitute for 'brought',
and it's often interchanged with 'brung'. You've probably forgotten, because
it's been over a decade since you grew out of it; but I'll try to jog your
memory.
One day in your fleeting childhood,
you were given a divine revelation. You realised that 'brang' and 'brung' sound
like both of two things, and nothing at all like 'brought'.
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For one, they sound like creative
uses for 'bleep' when someone curses on a candid video clip. For instance a man
might say, "I'll BRANG you up good." If this
was on TV, you'd hear the sound of clanging cymbals instead.
Secondly, these words 'brang' and
'brung' suitably fit onomatopoeias for the violent strumming of a guitar. Onomatopoeia,
by the way, means a word formed from the sound with which it is associated. Examples
include flap, meow, clap, patter and brang. 'Brung', of course, is simply the
past tense. Clap, clapped; brang, brung.
"Tama brung his guitar as he
walked to school. The guitar strings snapped from all the branging."
I bet you remember now, right? In hindsight, it wasn't too
difficult to grow out of. After all, 'brought' sounds so much better and more
sophisticated than 'brang'. So you quickly detached yourself from 'brang'
and 'brung', and dumped them in the sewers to float amongst all the others. By 'others', I mean: 'should of', 'ragland', 'alot', 'some-think',misplaced apostrophes.
The list goes on.
You got rid of them, yes?
What? You say you still use some of
them?
You say you still cling to these foul and pungent mutations?
You, who
stand here at the crossroads of your life; you, who hope to make it to the top
someday. My friend, you're still deep, deep underground, where the waste of
yesterday churns, where vermin gnaw through decaying flesh, and where unrealised dreams become lost in the darkness.
To this I have but one question. As
the season changes from spring to summer; as the cool fog clears for the rising
sun, will you forfeit the burdens of the past that hold you down, and rise up
out of the ground like a flower through soil? If so, then stay your tongue and
sever those foul words; for a flower can be full of potential, but as long as
there are weeds, it cannot hope to grow.
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