squirrel jam...

There are days when language just seems to fail me. Not because I don’t have an adequate grasp of it, but that somehow it doesn’t quite suffice for the task in hand.

As a child, when I couldn’t describe what I did want or make a decision, out of frustration I would sometimes say I wanted “squirrel jam” – originating from the inexpressible thing that I wanted on my toast because I didn’t want any of the other things that were on offer.

Today I want the linguistic equivalent of squirrel jam. If a noun is something that names name a person, place, thing, quality, or action, and a verb expresses existence, action, or occurrence, then today I want a nerb or voun or something.

For instance, I hate it when people refer to me only as “M’s wife” or “S’s sister”. Nope, I’m Laura. Yes, I am married to M, and yes S is my sibling, but I’m not purely defined by them either – I’m my own person…

So over the next little while I’m going to propose a list – of things I am/ not, of things I do/ don’t – sort of based along these lines. I am married to M/ I'm not M’s wife – that sort of thing…

Does this all make sense, or is it just more squirrel jam?


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