“Ah dinna ken” is one of Jill’s and my favorite ways to say “I don’t understand.” I have ways in other languages. I NEED more ways to say “I don’t understand.”

So “ken” is a favorite word. It may stem from reading At the Back of the North Wind, and ThePrincess and Curdie from George MacDonald, who Mark Twain loved touring.  CS Lewis published an anthology of MacDonald.  He also put George in The Great Divorce. George just walks into the action, and if you had read him, you shake your head and laugh!

So “ken” is a favorite word not a favorite doll.

“Kenning” is also a favorite.  Kenning is when you pair two words to create an evocative new word.  In Beowulf, over a third of all words are kennings.  Two favorites are bone-house for a body, and beadoleoma for “battle light” or Beowulf’s sword. …