Mouth

Today, I went shopping for some camping supplies for my ten-day holiday with Ben at the magical Away With the Fairies in Hogsback. I am so excited! On my search for some pots, pans, and gas stoves, I seemed to have meandered over to my favourite hospice shop! I picked up some pretty clothes and two books: Rabbit, Run by John Updike, and I Want it Now by Kingsley Amis. I don't know much about them, but they seem to be quite nice! I will let you know how they go as my reading progresses over my lovely vacation...


The word I came across in Rabbit, Run today was "mouth". I love the mouth - I believe it is the most expressive and emotive feature on any face, and in more than one way. A tender or caring person usually has a soft, expressive, caring mouth. A sour or aggressive person usually has a more strained, hard, and angular mouth shape. The word 'mouth' can refer to more than just your mouth, though.

Our ability to communicate as we do is one thing that sets us apart from other animals. It's an amazing ability that we have transferred and transformed into many different forms - the spoken word became the drawn word, the drawn word became the written word, the written word became the printed word, a few different languages became a million different languages: computers even got their own language!

You get... the mouth of a cave. Those are pretty epic, and I always think of bats when I think about caves. I watched the most amazing documentary about huge, hollow, deep-deep-deep caves with thousands and thousands of bats in them. I enjoyed watching their little eyes glisten in the dark while they fidgeted restlessly.


You also get to say to someone: "Watch your mouth". To be careful about what you say is always an important thing to remember. I find that I often let my mouth run away with me and tie me up in a knot I can't wriggle out of. I have insulted friends and made situations needlessly awkward with this little part of my personality! But I don't mind it so much.