Wondrous Words

One of my favorite reference sites, How Stuff Works, has a featured article today about the Rosetta Stone. Language is one of my passions. Unfortunately, I so love language that it's very hard for me to focus on becoming proficient on one at a time. As a result, I know bits and pieces of a lot of them.

I was fortunate during my last trip to England to accidentally wander into the Egypt section at the British Museum. Suddenly and without warning, there it was. My mother was more giddy than I have ever seen her about standing in front of the Rosetta Stone. This remarkable slab of basalt has quite a history. It has perplexed and defeated many a worthy scholar through the years before linguistic experts cracked its code. It was no easy process.

Suddenly, we, the people of the world, had a window into an ancient civilization that had previously escaped our study. All from the power of language.

Becoming more proficient in any one of the languages that I know pieces about is on my list of things to do. And someday, I shall. Focus is key, I think, so I think I'll finish ventriloquism (which is like a language itself) before I turn to those other words. It's terrible to leave things half done!