Star Wars and the English Language

#1 was working on Grammar yesterday when I offended him. He was studying irregular verbs, and got most of them correct. I commented that he did well, and I really wouldn't expect a boy to get them all correct until maybe 8th grade. He said, "But you would expect a girl to get them in the 6th grade? Why? Do you think boys are stupid?" No, I explained, but boys' and girls' brains develop differently. I honestly think he has the makings of an English Major, but he doesn't think so if it involves Grammar. Years ago I became very sick of Star Wars. I don't even think my kids had seen the movie yet, but there are always clips and commercials. The boys loved the battles, light sabers, the noises, the creatures. Ugh. Science fiction is perhaps my least favorite genre of movies. But they collected light sabers and continued to fight and play. Now #1 is into the books. He buys them at B&N whenever he has extra wads of dough- they are expensive!- and he borrows them from the library. He reads the adult ones that are as thick as Harry Potter. He collects the ones that tell you all about the different creatures and locations of Star Wars. He pores over the ones that explain how they made the movies. I would really put a stop to this addiction, if it weren't for the vocabulary he is building. One day, a couple of weeks ago, we were riding in the car. He likes to ride in the car, because it gives him free reading time. While I was driving along he asked me the definitions of several words: garner, digit, and phosphorous. Those are good words, even great words, for a 12 year old to know. Yesterday in the car he asked me the word "fastidious." So if he is reading something he enjoys, and his "grammar" is improving at the same time, I guess I am ok with it being Star Wars. The English language is a difficult language. I did fair on my GRE test, but there are so many ways you can look at a word. If you are to figure out a possible connection with a word, it helps to break it down into separate parts, but that isn't always possible. Take, for instance, the word "expensive." Do you break it down into expend or into pensive? The two possibilities are very different, unless you have been furniture shopping at an antique store. Then you would find that expensive furniture will make you expend your funds, and you will then become pensive.