Wednesday, February 25, 2004
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Wednesday, February 25, 2004 |
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Merchant Marine poet speaks on "Origins of the English Language" One of Fayette County's most colorful characters has been elected to give the Writer's Group his interpretation of how the English language originated. Joe Spensley, an award-winning poet is a regular at the Writer's Group meeting which is open to all who are interested in writing. The group meets at 10 a.m. most every Saturday at the Fayette County Library behind the Administrative Complex at the corner of highways 54 and 85. Joe has traveled the world and has seen more than 30 countries since joining the English Merchant Marines at the age of 17. At the time it was very exciting to him but after talking to the old-timers, he discovered he was lucky to be alive after having survived the "Perfect Storm". He was born in Middlesex England in the mid 1930s and later moved with his family to London to find work. Unfortunately, World War II had broken out and his parents sent him on a train at the age of 7 to Northwest England to stay with his aunt during the German bombing raids. After a year he came back and his siblings made fun of him because he had picked up the accent of the region. Joe’s dialect is the result of the many ethnic groups of people who fought over and settled in different areas of England through the centuries. They included the Celts, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Berserkers, Vandals, Romans, Vikings and Norman/French. From these diverse groups came the many dialects and accents unique to almost every county in England. To further prove his point Joe mentioned he once attended a funeral in a nearby city and didn't understand a word they were saying. To wrap up his speech, Joe educated us on common English phrases such as “It's Greek to me,” “Too much of a good thing,” “Vanish into thin air," “Without rhyme or reason” and “Refuse to budge an inch.” All of these examples come from William Shakespeare. As is our good fortune, Joe decided to visit his sister in Thomaston, Georgia in 1967 and later became a United States citizen in 1976. Being such a unique individual, I often ask him what title we should give him. His reply is usually ‘Poet Laureate of the Flint River Basin and points South.’”
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