The Head addressed pupils in the Cathedral on the last day of Michaelmas Term. You can read his Address below:
Whether you are looking forward to the World Cup final on Sunday or still feeling bruised at England’s ¼ final exit last weekend, I am sure all would agree that the weeks of the tournament have been something of an emotional rollercoaster. Jack Grealish gave an interview in the tournament after the USA draw about the pressures which came from that weaker performance after their storming opening win over Iran. He said that after the Iran game, everyone was saying the England team is “the best thing since sliced bread” but then were critical when they drew the next match. Except is that what he said? The big talking point from the Grealish interview was not about pressure in a World Cup; rather there was a suggestion that he actually said that England were the the best thing “since sliced veg”, much to the internet’s amusement.
So, sliced bread or sliced veg: whether Mr Grealish likes to chew on a full cauliflower or only nibble delicate florets, it started me thinking about words or phrases which are commonly mispronounced, a feature of language known as eggcorns or sometimes mondegreens. Other common examples:
- Nose drills (instead of “nostrils”)
- An escape goat (instead of “a scapegoat”)
- Growth sprout (instead of “growth spurt”)
- Nip it in the butt (a more painful version of “nip it in the bud”)
However, my favourite is the following story, for which you need to know about Francis Bacon, the Elizabethan and Jacobean English philosopher.
“When James was young, his father said to him: ‘Knowledge is power, Francis Bacon’. James understood it as ‘Knowledge is Power, France is Bacon’.
For more than a decade James wondered over the meaning of the second part and what might be the surreal linkage between the two. If James said the quote to someone, ‘Knowledge is Power, France is Bacon’, they nodded knowingly. Or someone might say, ‘Knowledge is Power’ and James would finish the quote with ‘France is Bacon’. They wouldn’t look at James as if he had said something odd but would thoughtfully agree. James even asked a teacher what did ‘Knowledge is Power, France is Bacon’ mean and got 10 minutes on the first part but nothing on the second. When he prompted further explanation by asking in questioning tone, ‘France is bacon?’, he just got an affirmative ‘yes’, so James just accepted that it was something he would not understand. Years later, he saw it written down and the penny finally dropped.
These are relatively trivial examples of misunderstandings which can be unpicked by closer inspection. They allow the sort of eureka moment from our story-teller when something that they thought was familiar is shown in a new light. In the same spirit of revelation, I wonder whether you learned anything new about the nativity story from seeing the gowns’ rendition on Wednesday. Perhaps the difficulty of the donkey’s journey was brought alive by our blue onesied hero giving a piggy back ride to Mary while the narrators gave what sounded like a rap rendition of “Little Donkey”. Or you saw again the significance of the star through Henry Hood’s portrayal which left out the more traditional interpretation of a star shape or colour, instead repeating “Twinkle Twinkle” in a deep bass voice while sporting a rather fetching hat and bright green trousers.
While I thoroughly enjoyed this week’s idiosyncratic nativity story, there is a danger that Christmas becomes a time which can all too easily pass in superficiality, with convenient traditions and well-known tunes underpinning little more than a significant retail opportunity. I encourage you to force yourselves to shed these layers of familiarity to think again about more important aspects of the story at the heart of Christmas: vulnerability and hardship, met by love and compassion.
To assist you as you consider such ideas, I am going to ask members of the Chapel Choir to sing a modern Christmas Carol, which may not be familiar yet, but deserves your attention as an addition to your experience at this time of year. This is “My Lord has come” by Will Todd.
Thank you indeed. It is a time of great hardship in our own country and around the world. I am delighted that Amieli was able to provide our traditional bilingual excerpt from the start of John’s gospel in Ukrainian. We are proud to have her and two other Ukrainian pupils, Artem and Bohdan, in our Lower 6th and I know that we all send our love and compassion to them and their families as they deal with continuing hostility in plunging temperatures which comfortably outstrip anything we have seen in the UK this week.
I wish you all and your families well for the upcoming holiday. As you rightly celebrate family ties and enjoy time together, strive to look afresh at this time of year. Do not lose sight of those experiencing more challenging times and consider ways in which you might be able to offer help.