One of the many areas of knowledge that intrigues me on an admittedly casual level is language acquisition. I sometimes think I should have chucked the whole religion thing long ago and gone back to grad school in child development. Although as distractable as I am, I’m also sure that would have lasted five minutes.

Anyway, what interests me is how children internalize the rule of language and apply them without being explicitly taught how. Of course, this often results in mis-applications, which, however, are perfectly logical if you think about them.

Christopher, lo those many years ago, for a very long time said “mise” instead of mine. Get it? Think of it as “my’s”.

Now, a couple of decades later, Joseph, although he sometimes says “No I’m not,” just as often says “No, I amn’t.”

But his most frequent declaration is to stand with his hands on his hips and declare, with deeply furrowed brow, “I’m angry of you!”

See? At least he knows it’s a preposition.