We tend to take short words for granted. After reading this I hope you give them more weight in your spoken words. Here's an example:
'Loft' serves as a noun with several meanings arising from a single intention. It is a space inside a roof; a gallery particularly one for a church choir; a room over a stable to store hay; also a raised house or coop where pigeons are kept and, in US contexts, an upper storey of a warehouse or factory.
It serves in sporting contexts where, in golf, it encompases the lifting of the ball in relation to the angle of the club face and the vertical when striking the ball; the elevation of the ball itself and the height to which a ball rises once it is struck or kicked.
And has a particular meaning in marine design where the act of lofting means to layout a fullscale drawing of the lines of a vessel's hull. All of that in just one four-letter word!
Its history is rich and deep in the past, moving from Old English into earlier Old Norse which has resonance with Old Danish and Old High German. Think of the common and diverse strains of culture entwined in the word.
It brings wonderful shades of antique ancestry to the ancient Angles, Saxons and Jutes who influenced the roots of English. An influence that remains and is visible today, in often-spoken English words.
'Loft' serves as a noun with several meanings arising from a single intention. It is a space inside a roof; a gallery particularly one for a church choir; a room over a stable to store hay; also a raised house or coop where pigeons are kept and, in US contexts, an upper storey of a warehouse or factory.
It serves in sporting contexts where, in golf, it encompases the lifting of the ball in relation to the angle of the club face and the vertical when striking the ball; the elevation of the ball itself and the height to which a ball rises once it is struck or kicked.
And has a particular meaning in marine design where the act of lofting means to layout a fullscale drawing of the lines of a vessel's hull. All of that in just one four-letter word!
Its history is rich and deep in the past, moving from Old English into earlier Old Norse which has resonance with Old Danish and Old High German. Think of the common and diverse strains of culture entwined in the word.
It brings wonderful shades of antique ancestry to the ancient Angles, Saxons and Jutes who influenced the roots of English. An influence that remains and is visible today, in often-spoken English words.
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