Just a few weeks ago, James Kilpatrick, a favorite author and grammarian of mine, laid down his pen, or at least signed off. In his eighties and having fought the good fight for clear, concise and correct expression in written American English, he felt it was time for him to retire. I think he had been overtaxed by bad taxonomy (nothing to do with critters, dear Jen), mixed metaphors and declining declensions far too long.

It is sad that people cannot write right or correctly.

“Banana”, a favorite food, gives people spelling fits. It must not be a brain food, unless you follow the banana with a nice cup of green tea, please spare the lemon. Earl Grey and a single lump of sugar make for better conversation.

Paleography, orthography, etymology, cartography and the study of documents and correspondence let us peek into the appearance and change the way we use the tools of communication, our words.

Since I was, as a child, somewhat feral in the woods of the interior of Appalachia, and could roam for hours unattended and not missed by any parent, social worker, government agent, law enforcement officer or religious zealot aiming to better my mind or save my soul, I will, on occasion, alone or in select company, send forth some pure primal sounds. Golden!

But the sounds do fade.

Gold is one of those much abused and misunderstood words. Let the people at Clairol & Suave have a seat. Blonds may or may not have more fun. I could observe, but not today. The point of this post is that the ROOT of the blond is not golden. The Periodic Table, which I am sure my readers have committed to heart, will know that the symbol for Gold is Au. Auburn comes Old French alborne, which meant blond, from Latin alburnus, "off-white."[1][2] The first recorded use of auburn in English was in 1430.[2][3] In hair color, auburn is frequently misused as a synonym for red. (Entry in Wilkipedia)

When gilding, I don't get blond letters or decorations, I lay down a pinkish gesso, I use a material called Armenian bole and my 24 carat gold leaf is rich, golden and not yellow. Give me the auburn. If I want blond, I use white gold.

Wordsmiths awaken! Spread your heart on paper. Read the passion that still burns between John and Abigail Adams. Look at the correspondence between the Tsar and Tsarina as the Romanov dynasty was crashing to its end. Flick the Bic - do your writing with a pigmented ink on decent paper.

But write out the words and spread your passion there for someone to read. Someone might soon or in a distant future discover a Bridges Of Madison County or The Muppets Take Fuquay-Varina, but the next generation, as well as the present needs to know your STORY. Lever your footprints in the wet concrete (not cement -and we'll defer to Ken Pike to tell you about that). Tim Blessed Sunday www.timjohnsonphoto.com