Re/discovering words

I’ve been combing through dictionaries recently. Nepali, Newari, Scottish, Spanish and finally even English. It’s given me back a few tangy terms I thought I had long since lost. Enthymeme was given back to me today – an argument with a hidden presupposition. Eleanor, my youngest daughter, is growing up in a real language soup, as did I.

For years at the dinner table people at Rancho Escondido would ask for a skosh more food. I had always assumed it was one of those rare Scots words that had somehow founds its way down the generations, but no. It comes from the Japanese sukoshi.

Now Eleanor is mixing Scots and Newari is a glorious way. Pramming our way to school the other day I asked her, ‘Yākana vane maste va?’ to which she replied, ‘Ah ken hoo ta drive’.