My Favorite Word, Of Course

English is so strange.  The spelling in general, the formation of nouns from verbs, the delicate ballet of prepositions and articles.  It's weird to the English learner, and after I had been teaching English for a few years it started to seem weird to me too. 

As an example of the strange, consider the word "course."  What does it mean?  Well . . .

1.  The route or direction followed by a ship, aircraft, road or river.  "The ship's course will take it close to Hawaii."  "We will travel on a southerly course." 

2.  The way in which something develops.  "A course of action."

3.  One of the successive food items in a meal.  "The second course was fish." 

4.  A series of lectures or lessons.  "I'm taking a course in Thai history."

5.  A series of doses of medicine.  "The doctor gave me a course of antibiotics."

6.  An area of land prepared for a sport.  "The golf course was beautiful." 

7.  A continuous horizontal layer of bricks in a wall.  "The third course of bricks from the bottom is not level."

8.  A series of notes struck by a matched set of bells.  (I didn't remember this one.)

9.  A sail on the lowest group on each mast of a square-rigged ship.  (Never heard this one either.)

(Source: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English.)  

"Course" comes from Latin, which is never surprising.  Many English words come from Latin.  The noun was "cursus;" the verb was "currere," to run.  It came up through Old French to Middle English in the form of "cours," to run.  Now it seems to mean almost anything.

English is a constant challenge to one's common sense and a frequent affront to one's dignity, and the only way to deal with it effectively is to think of it as a hugely amusing puzzle.  English, like golf, will often seem to be slipping through your fingers.  Just when you think you've gotten the hang of it, you discover that there are more levels to it, or you're results start to decay.  Find a way to make it fun.  Find ways to continuously improve your English ability, and enjoy it while you're at it.  This is true both for those of us who were born into it and for those who struggle to learn it as a second language (and it is a struggle).  English is a beautiful language, and a great language for expressing ideas or explaining difficult concepts.  Myself, I love English. 

Remember: English is not easy, and it's not "too hard."  It's merely "hard."  Most people can do "hard" if they work at it.