Splitting Infinitives

I love the English language. I love language of all sorts, the idea that we manage to communicate and sometimes get it right. Because I love language, I sometimes become protective of it. Although I like the idea of flux in grammar and words, what we have accepted in order to communicate well should not be treated frivolously. Some poetic license can be inspiring, but repeated, erroneous word use irritates me.
One aspect of word use that gets to me is overuse, often by the media, of a term that is supposed to be bigger than itself. One recent example is the word transparency when applied to government or industry. To demand transparency makes one sound so bloody cool. Let the Mitchell report on drug use in baseball exhibit transparency. That solves everything, doesn't it? If only all of politics were transparent.
Another overused, bigger than life term is closure. I do have sympathy for people who are caught on camera after losing a loved one to crime, at least the first time they are "caught" by the camera. I do wonder if there are a few ringers who travel from crisis to crisis to moan about what a good boy he was before he got into drugs, and, oh all we need is some closure. But today I was thrilled by the front page article in the St. Louis Post about the "closure" of Highway 40. At last, closure! Why aren't we all celebrating? Where are the toothless aunts and uncles and cousins who have longed for closure, never having only sought media attention for themselves? Now is the time to come out of the woodwork and dance on the highway. Enough of the nay-saying about traffic problems. We finally have closure.

Definition

I looked up both found and foundation in the Oxford English Dictionay, a Christmas gift from Bridgett a couple of years ago, and now I am thoroughly confused. It may be the font size (less than 6 point and requiring a magnifying glass), but I think I have probably confused myself by trying too hard. I can now throw "melting metal," as in foundery, and some obsolete meanings into the mix. I did go to "find" and one of the definitions said "to come across." That is pretty much what I expect when I refer to finding myself: I will be looking for that other brown shoe in the bottom of the closet one day and there my self will be. I only hope the surprise will be pleasant and not disappointing.

Foundation

Every once in a while, I will hear a word used and realize some connection anew. That may not exactly be the way to describe the experience. The connection was always there, but I was unaware. Today, during a sermon at College Church, Father Fleming, who happens to remind me of my dad but that is for another blog, said that we have to be found, that we have to have a foundation. Isn't it correct to say an organizaton was founded by someone? If there were a venn diagram or some kind of set theory of words that fit together, it would not be much of a leap to place foundation in that same set. But "found" often connotes the result of a different kind of effort. "I found my watch." or "He found his uncle in the census of 1900." even "She found herself." As the past tense of find, "found" never fit comfortably into the word set containing foundation, until today. Now that I am trying to put this on paper, so to speak (What would Derrida have to say about that phrase and preceeding clause?), I feel clumsy. What made sense at 11 a.m, this morning has become foggy. But I will attempt my mental acrobatics anyway: when I have a foundation to my life, that means that I found (did find) something. By finding my center, a beginning, the course to follow, I laid a foundation. I then choose to build on what I find. Maybe others' "finding" me builds on that foundation as well. God finds each of us, no matter where we are or what we do. Then we find ourselves and each other? Now I am getting tired of my own rambling.