When Language becomes Obscure (Adult lessons in Children’s Books #1)

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.”

“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”

“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master, that’s all.”

― Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass (1871)

In this short conversation Humpty Dumpty seems to propose that words can have whatever meaning the speaker chooses to assign them. The lesson taught here requires considerable thought.

I found the same lesson in a simpler form — one a young child can understand.

The Castle Number Nine (Ludwig Bemelmens, 1937) tells the story of a man (Baptiste) who is taken into the service of Count Hungerburger-Hungerburger and moves into his castle. The count worries about, “how wrongly all things are named in this world”, and therefore assigns new names. He insists that Baptiste use the new words.

The dog becomes, “Friend-at-both-ends”; Baptiste becomes “Bring-me”; the bed is Dreambox”, and the stairs are the “Leglifter”. The cat is “Clawhigh” the fire “Happy”, and the candle “Sundrops”.

When the castle catches on fire, Bring-me rushes to the fire chief with this message, “Friend-on-both-ends chased Clawhigh down the leglifter. They knocked over the sundrops which fell in the dreambox and now the whole castle is happy.”

The ending of the tale is predictable.

Even a child can understand that words must have concrete meanings. This doesn’t require great philosophical investigations.

If you aren’t able to find a copy of this book, I found a read aloud on the YouTube channel, “The Reason We Learn”.

I hope you enjoy the story, and its message.

by Meg (homeschooling mom of 9)

MS, Exceptional Student Education (Univ. of W. Florida) emphasis on Applied Behavior Analysis

MA, psychology (Grand Canyon University)

Bachelor of Arts (Northwest Nazarene University)

***********************************************************************

Did you know every year many 1,000’s of parents teach their own children to READ? Many of them have used  Alpha-Phonics because they have found it can easily be used to teach their children to read. Your Kids can make a lot of headway in only a couple of weeks with this proven program.  Alpha-Phonics is easy to teach, is always effective and requires no special training for the Parent.   It works !  And it is  very inexpensive.  You CAN DO it !!  Follow the links below to know all about the time-tested (37 + years) Alpha-Phonics program: