Dear Ms. Catalfo,
Emma has given me permission to write to you in order to try to influence you to place “mayn’t” on the Juicy Word Wall. While I certainly respect your sole authority in admitting words into this realm, and I know there are many other more pressing and important matters in the world and in the classroom, I
hope you do not take offence at the effort I put forward here. I believe it is worth it.
One aspect that defines the Hart household is the ever present effort to relate an understanding of the difference between asking for, or receiving permission to perform a task, and having the ability to
perform that task. On this matter we usually spend energy analyzing the use of the words “can” and “may” in our everyday speech. It is a tradition started generations ago by a family who is able to count
six consecutive generations that contain school teachers as members (including Horace Southwick, Colgate 1888). Most recently my grandfather pestered my mother on the issue, my mother pestered
me, I pester my children, and I hope someday my children will pester their children on the matter.
Knowing how to accurately choose between “can” and “may” alone does not qualify the word “mayn’t” for a place on the Juicy Word Wall; I believe, however, that “may” and therefore by extension “mayn’t” are under siege. They could use our help. They could use some promotion. “Can” and “can’t” clearly have the upper hand in common usage, and I feel we would all be better served to shift the balance in favor of “may” and “mayn’t”.
Consider an exchange that surely happens countless times every day in this country.
Child: Can I go out and play?
Adult: No you can’t.
Child: Why can’t I?
Adult: Because I said so.
Would not the fabric of our life be improved if we instead promoted a form that is more accurate and pleasing to our rational sensibilities? Promoting “mayn’t” could lead to:
Child: May I go out and play?
Adult: No you mayn’t.
Child: I understand that you, as the authority on the matter, do not give me that permission.
In your teaching career it may even be possible that you have potentially confused a child by falling in with common language usage when you, for example, informed a child that at this moment they can’t go the bathroom. There are good reasons for teachers to explain to a child that they mayn’t go the bathroom; there is no excuse for frightening a child into believing that somehow their biology has been altered. Using more words like “mayn’t” could possibly help this situation.
I have heard that one objection to the word is that it is an “old” word. I would like to point out that many important words, like “justice”, “tolerance”, and “compassion”, are clearly old words. I can not see how this should disqualify, or even lessen the chance, that a word be placed on the Juicy Word Wall. Do newer words, words that were not in the English dictionary when we were born, really add anything important to our language? Would there be any negative impact if in our language we could not choose from new words like “ginormous”, “prioritize”, or “downside”? I believe our lives would be improved without these newcomers in the mix. There are people in the world who monitor the use of certain languages (for example French and Spanish) to make sure they are constant and traditional. In this way perhaps we should have more reverence for the “old” words in the English language.
Lastly, I advocate that there be a universal understanding that in our precious moments here on earth, what we may or mayn’t do dominates what we can or can’t do. “Can” and “can’t” are merely life’s denominators, relating only the limit of what we are capable, while “may” and “mayn’t” are the numerators that represent what we choose for our life. Only when we reach for and achieve that of which we are capable, when we may choose to do what we can choose, will the top and bottom of our fraction be equal. Only then will we reach unity. “Can’t” is nature, “mayn’t” is nurture. Clearly we should choose to foster the realization of human potential by promoting words like “mayn’t”.
In closing I implore you not to dismiss “mayn’t” from consideration because it is short, or seems difficult to say. Do not overlook it because it is old or clunky. The Juicy Word Wall would be enhanced to include such a word. Our lives would be enhanced by the addition. The choice, by definition, is yours.
Our newest President influenced people to believe in what we can do, by extolling, “Yes we can”. This urging perhaps helped bring him to a place where great things are possible. Without a doubt, however, his legacy, and certainly our American legacy, will be defined not by what we can’t accomplish in this moment in time, but rather what we mayn’t accomplish.
Thanks for your consideration on this matter.
Seemingly Sincerely,
Eren Hart.