Parole...... parole .....parole ……

One of the unexpected things for me about being dyslexic is a sheer love of words.

Words, 1941

That said it can be a challenge to spell them especially when even the spell check gives up on me.

At which stage I have to sack the word find an alternative and rewrite the sentence to accommodate the substitute word.

Added to which at 74 I sometimes find remembering the word can be irksome.

But despite those hiccups I love playing with words finding a rhythm with a collection of words and just “going off on one”.

And that sometimes means a story slides away in a different direction to the one intended, and along the way the odd poet or memorable quote gets incorporated into the text.

So today I was going to write reflective piece on my Christmas books* but downstairs Rosa had tuned in to Rai 1 HD, which is an Italian station offering up a mix of “family” orientated material ranging from current affairs, discussion shows to a heap of quiz programmes, soaps, and films.

Coca Cola, Varese, 2020

It is of course a familiar and popular set of programmes which can be replicated on all our main TV channels, but what is interesting is the growing use of English across a whole series of the Italian shows.

Flags of the World, 1956

In some cases, it is a word like “on line” or an expression for which I am sure there will be an Italian equivalent. 

And then there are heaps of songs with English lyrics which are used to introduce a topic or chosen in preference to an Italian song in talent shows and variety extravaganzas.

All of which was very evident over Christmas, when performers from Bing Crosby to David Bowie, Chris Rea and Elvis Presley were played often back-to-back and accompanied by dancing Christmas trees, smiling elves and glittering baubles.

I don’t remember it being so pronounced in the past and it may not be the case for other Italian channels or in the output from other European TV stations.

But perhaps it just all part of that giant interplay of word exchange which has seen modern English a wash with words, and names for sorts of things and food from around the world.

And some of which have become so embedded in the language that we don’t even give a second thought to their origins.

Along with those plays on words courtesy of Flags of the World, which for the price of an old one penny gave you a picture card with a national flag on one side, and on the reverse a mix of interesting facts including "How They Say", Hello, Friend, Goodbye and Thanks.

Not that it ever advanced my competency in foreign languages.

Loto, 2012

Pictures; Words, Acanthus, 1941***, Coca Cola, 2020 and Loto, 2012, Varese from the collection of Andrew Simpson and card  number 58, Flags of the World, courtesy of Flags of the World**

*Pax, Tom Holland, Northerners, Brian Groom, The Definitive Desert Island Discs, Ian Gittins and the Lost Rivers of Manchester, Geoffrey Ashworth

**Flags of the World, http://www.deanscards.com/c/716/1956-Topps-Flags-of-the-World

***from Lilliput Vol 9 No.1 July 1941