December 27, 2020 SUPER FREAK

 The F* Word. Grammar 101. Technically speaking --F* is a verb or noun.

It is also used as an exclamation to express annoyance, contempt or impatience. My questions is this---When did the F* word turn into a GERUND?  Seriously--Many people use it to describe things---That's F*ing awesome. Others try to make the F* bomb " more acceptable" by saying--- Freaking awesome--but FREAKING actually means to come unhinged, crazy or insane--so it doesn't even make sense. Here's the problem--TOTAL LACK OF IMAGINATION. IT'S JUST  ANOTHER WAY WE ARE DUMBING DOWN. There are more than a MILLION words in the English language--of which the average person uses 20,000. What would happen if people started using words to help describe things more accurately. Why say---THAT BABY IS SO FREAKING CUTE when you could say--THAT BABY IS ANGELIC. SHE MELTS MY HEART. So much more accurate and beautiful. Words are one of the few things that separate us from animals--use them well. Even though humans are supposed to be more evolved than animals, this is certainly not the case in The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris. Although this book was written in 2018, I kept putting it off because it was about the Holocaust and those books can be incredibly sad and disturbing. I finally picked it up after I realized that it was based on a true story. Morris actually spent three years interviewing Ludwig (Lale) Sokolov for her novel. At the beginning of the book, Lale is rounded up with other Slovakian Jews and sent in 1942 to Auschwitz-Birkenau.  Because he spoke many languages, he was given the job of Tatowierer--inking numbers on the arms of prisoners. This was where he met Gita and their love story began.   Lale enjoyed many freedoms as a tattooist,  and risked his life helping the less fortunate until his escapades were discovered by the Nazis and he was taken away. In the end, Lale and Gita  spend three years in the German death camp before being separated --Gita on a death march and Lale on a train before being saved by the Russians. Find out what happens to Lale and Gita after the war when you read this amazing testament to the human spirit and the power of love.This courageous story is only 288 pages or a 3 mile run that is important because we should never forget.