Language at another level

You write, review, critique, blog. You stretch to extend syntax, expand vocabulary to express the more abstract.

Only to find that the other end of the spectrum is even more of a stretch – to simplify.

Explaining to a(n almost) three year old the events of the past week without scaring the life out of him. ‘Why is that bus in such a big puddle?’ led straight into ‘why are those people in the swimming pool with all their clothes on?’ and the big one that deserves a straight answer, ‘where did all this water come from?’

Clouds aren’t the puffy, non-threatening things they used to be.

The catch is he knows a cop-out answer when he hears one. Try explaining the water cycle without the terms evaporation or condensation to a total sceptic. I shudder to think what I’ll do when I get to ‘the Earth is round’.

When I re-enter the world of grown-ups, I’m sure to be hard pressed to conduct a grown up conversation. Not in content, mind, but in style. No pop-culture references, no literary asides. No Gilmore Girls-esque sharp repartee.