Stories from Friends

I'd like to thank my friends and teachers for many interesting stories they've told me over the years about languages or geography. These may be about little things that have happened to them, or something they've read or heard about.

Thoughts about dialects and changes in English are interesing also. I just noticed the other day, when hearing people talk on television, a way of phrasing that seems new to me. People start sentences with the word "so" in a different way than when I was growing up. We only used "so" if the following statement was a direct consequence of the previous one. "He threw the ball to me, so I caught it." But now, it seems like new topics are opened with "so". That's very interesting! Has anyone else observed this?

Languages are always evolving... reflecting the changes in culture and geography, in a fascinating dance!

Geography is always changing also! My friend Alan tells me about chess games he plays in person and on the internet. I've learned a lot of geography from those stories, because his matches are with people from all over the world. I remember when he told me how the matches of an international chess organization (FIDE?) were affected by the breakup of the Soviet Union. Suddenly that huge region was no longer sending just one brilliant player. Each new country was now sending its own!

Please post any stories or observations you have from your daily life!