Blankets or Covers

If you’ve never been to Iceland, you should go.

I would not have thought it was as interesting as it is.

Besides the fact that you can literally stand on two separate continental plates (which is the reason Iceland as a land mass is  growing centimeters a year), there are other things about the country that make you stop and think.

I’d probably kill myself if I lived there in the winter. It’s dark almost all day. But, just like all things the good side of that is that in the summer, it doesn’t get dark, which I like a lot.

There aren’t many people that live in Iceland, roughly the same number that live in Arkansas and Arkansas isn’t the most densely populated region. However, because of that, in my opinion, you don’t have to have such exquisite control the activity of a lot of people.Either that or Icelanders are way smarter than other people. For instance, people can camp just about anywhere. They probably expect that you will not be stupid enough to camp on the glacier or too near a hot pot where geothermal activity is showing itself.

There is one place where they keep exquisite control. You are going to be surprised. It’s their official language. The only words that you should write and presumably speak in formal situations, are the words that have been formally approved as part of the Icelandic language.

You might say, so?

Think about American English.

Sup? in the house. upload. apps. Social media. I could just keep going on, but you know what I am saying. Slang or words that weren’t even part of our language only a few years ago and that have come into play because of technology, cultural influences or just new slang ways of expressing ourselves. Over time some of them will get into the written literature that decades from now, someone reading those might not have a clue what they are referring to.

Not so in Iceland.

Even in the US, depending up on where you live, you are going to say things differently. Some say coke, some say soda, and even a few say pop.

So what about covers or blankets?

Is that regional or age related. Does everyone say pulls the covers up, it’s cold outside? (which to me sounds very homey and even more inviting, than if you said pull the blanket up.) Does anyone ever say, “give the baby his covers, as opposed to giving him his blanket?

Not that this matters, but I was thinking the other day how powerful words are when someone was describing to me the enjoyment of a beautiful mountain night, screenless windows open to fresh, thin air, and how warm and loving the pulling of the covers over this woman and her mate sounded.

I bet “covers” is an Icelandic word. I am guessing something similar conveys the same meaning in every language. It’s an example of a word that describes more than the function of a blanket.

This is a boring post, with the exception that I hope that it brings you a good memory of covers of any kind that make your heart joyful.

And that maybe you will want to go to Iceland.

In the US, they