I'm Finna Discuss "Finna"

The first time I saw the word "finna" was in a Facebook post by one of my great-nieces (she's 36 years old). It was a strange looking word to me, a baby boomer. My first thought was that it was something she made up.

But one evening, to my surprise, as I was leaving the public library on 115th Street in Harlem, at closing time, I saw a book on a book cart with the title Finna: Poems. The book is by Nate Marshall and was published by One World in 2020.

On its back is a definition of "finna." It's described as being from African-American vernacular English and means "going to; intending to."

No doubt the word is used a lot by those involved in hip-hop culture.

Well, folks, I'm finna sign off, bringing this blog post to a close.

Are You A Dogophile Or A Caninophile?

In his 2003 Time magazine essay, "Of Dogs and Men," later reprinted in Things That Matter (Crown Forum, 2013), his essay collection, the late syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer used the word "dogophilia" to describe the close relationship that humans have to their dogs.

A better, more elegant word would have been "caninophilia," the love of dogs. One website calls the word "a bastard mix of Latin and Greek," but it sounds much better than "dogophilia," a word that sounds ugly to my ears and robs such a passion for dogs of its beauty, mutuality, and elevated status. It would be like calling a person who has a deep passion for books a bookaholic or a bookophile instead of a bibliophile or, to use the name of this blog, a book maven.These latter terms are more elegant, celebratory, and respectful.

Some people might say that I'm nitpicking but to me words matter. How they are used conveys one's attitude and view of the world. To me, "dogophilia" trivializes a very important, deeply felt relationship.

As for me, although I've had many dogs in my life, I'm partial to cats. You can call me a felinophile or a cat lover, not a catophile.


Note: Merry Christmas, everyone!