Spelling Connecticut
In her spirited, sassy bestseller, Eats, Shoots and Leaves, Lynne Truss declares war on improper punctuation, deftly engaging readers in her passionate pursuit of properly placed apostrophes, semi-colons and other dashing typographical characters. The little volume is a delightful romp through propriety in print. But tucked into gentle remonstrations against carelessly littered ellipses and rueful objections to floating apostrophe’s, is an illuminating observation with even further reaching consequences than misplaced commas.
Recalling a disheartening moment at a book signing, the author describes her encounter with a woman who laments the unavailability of a punctuation guide for adults, while standing in front of a table stacked full of the book that is a punctuation guide for adults. She calls it “the same kind of strenuous apathy” reflected in a line from the film Small Time Crooks, when, asked if there is anything he really wants to know, Woody Allen responds, ‘Well, I’ve always wanted to learn how to spell Connecticut.’”
Enclosed in the articulation of such an achievable ambition is the tacit guarantee that it will never happen.
It’s a notion expressed by women too often and about too many subjects. Whether it is the etiquette of introductions or the elements of the periodic table, no woman has to admit she “always wanted to learn”, but hasn’t - and won’t.
All the knowledge of the last 3000 years is available to any American woman who wants it. In a book or a video, at the library, on television, in a class or online, the information is there for the learning. If a woman always wanted to understand how to multiply fractions or always wanted to know how to grow azaleas or always wondered about the chemical reaction that makes rust, she can find out. The answers can be had just by looking them up.
Education should be the most common experience, a daily phenomenon as routine as putting on shoes, yet women often ‘retire’ from learning when they graduate or when they start raising families. Some focus only on continuing education related to their profession. But this is a fascinating world and even the most focused woman should fulfill her curiosity. Better yet, she should feed that curiosity. Adding new information is what ultimately makes each generation smarter, better equipped, more able to manage the world around them. It is the gift that keeps giving, exponentially.
Somehow education has become synonymous with institutions. But learning doesn’t require a degree, tuition or any formal enrollment at all. There is no dress code. It can take only a minute, an hour or a month. What is important is the discovery, the liberating sense of accomplishment, the confidence that is the natural accompaniment to knowing.
Yes, there are time constraints, obligations, duties and chores. But, all that is really necessary to understand virtually anything now is the desire to do so. At a public library, it’s all free.
There have been many times and many places where women were forbidden to read, forbidden to learn. Some of those places still exist. Women who live there know that ignorance is not, never has been and never will be, bliss.
Any sentence beginning with “It’s none of my business, but…” should probably not be finished. Some things really are better left unsaid. But the sentence that starts “I’ve always wanted to learn…” ought to be followed, sooner or later, with the affirmation, “So, now I know.”
