As I was eating a slippery pear wedge after dinner, the phrase "slippery trope" popped into my head. Did I come up with an original phrase? Using Google there slipped hope. Entering "slippery slope" without quotes, gave "Book of the Times: Language Evolution's Slippery Tropes", William Grimes, New York Times, 2007-08-01.
The article is a review of "The First Word" by Christine Kenneally, an overview of the investigation of the origins of language. Some of the interesting items mentioned are having laboratory subjects create their own language from a few seeds and apes who have learned to sign don't respond to each other's signs but get into a "shouting" match.
This article reminded me of my own thoughts about the Tower of Babel. I see this story as a fable to explain why people speak different languages. However, we create different languages all on our own. Think of how the Romance languages diverged from Latin and how German diverged into several languages. Think how the English of the Eighteenth century has changed into modern English; styles, words, and pronunciations are quite different today. Even grammar that was considered improper in the 1950s is used by teachers of today.
From my slippery pear to the slippery trope, I have hope that I can find time in the next year or two to read "The First Word". I hope the opportunity doesn't slip away.
