'We don't make sentences. We recycle them.'

Mei is taking English courses on and off. Sure, she is making progress by leaps and bounds, especially in vocabulary. However, she still makes numerous mistakes in her sentences, rendering them laughable sometimes and hilarious some others.

One day, I tried to offer some help, "Why don't you try to memorize the most frequently used sentences? Then you can simply modify them to suit your needs and you are done! If you think about it, we don't make sentences. Instead, we recycle them."

"Okay, I will give it a try." She agreed, hesitantly.

Not impressed by her lack of enthusiasm, I wanted to come up with some stronger support for my proposal and convince her. However, on a second thought, the idea that we do not make new sentences but only recycle old ones shocked me. Sure, the small talks in the company hallway are simply nothing. The ones we speak at meetings are also just routine... Wow! Is my environment so boring? Or, am I so uncreative?

In the end, I did not convince her. Instead, I started writing more regularly. If nothing else, just to make some new sentences.

2010.7.11