When words become barriers

Despite having had a reasonably good education and being fairly literate, I was surprised by an article in last Saturday's Independent newspaper that contained at least 10 words that I had never before heard.

The journalist Deborah Orr was interviewing the French intellectual Bernard-Henri Levy and in it she used such wonderful words as "mountebank" and "chimerical" plus many others which for me were totally obscure, however upon looking them up in the dictionary they proved to be very appropriate. It made me appreciate once again what an amazing language English is, and how important it is not to "dumb it down". But of course it's not just one language it is a hybrid of many different langauges whose history for one reason or another appears to be being lost in the annals of time.

The problem with the loss of this knowledge is that when more unusual words are used in an everyday context they become a huge barrier to getting people to understand what is being said, not unlike someone speaking a foreign language.

Today for me was a classic example. I went to my local Church this morning and was struck as I read through the order of service just how many words that seemed so familiar to me didn't actually make much sense. The Church seems to assume that its members have a close affinity with Latin. Now given that Latin hasn't been taught at many schools for a number of years this appears to me to be a rather great oversight and maybe reflects why so many people feel alienated by the Church.

Could the word barrier, although probably a small factor in itself be just the thin end of the wedge?

So I've taken it upon myself to "translate" some of the language used in today's order of service which I hope those of you who read this blog will appreciate.

MATINS, means "Morning", in the case of the Church of England, the daily morning service

VENITE - this word is combined with "EXULTIMUS", and means "o come let us (venite) rejoice (exultimus). In the Church service, the Venite is the 95th Psalm from the Bible.

ANTIPHON - Alternate chanting or singing. A type of Church music sung by two parties each responding to the other.

EPISTLE - Something written or sent to someone. In the case of the Church it is a letter to the Church from usually one of the Apostles.

JUBILATE DEO - To shout for joy for or with God.

COLLECT - A short prayer conveying one main petition.

CONCORD - Harmony

Prayers of "INTERCESSION" - The act of pleading on behalf of another.

I hope that the above helps anyone lost by the language of religion. If you have any words that are used in your Church and which you don't understand please send a response to this blog.