A thousand years of words on words – David, Hillary and Ben Crystal

Mr Crystal and his family are an audience magnet, this is a fact. Wherever they go, they’re followed by people ready to be charmed – for this is what they do – by particular, sometimes minute details of the English language which are turned into big deals. This is the catch for this “light hearted reflection”, as they themselves called it, on what writers have to say about the English language.   Not surprisingly, at 7pm Auditorium 2 was packed with a Babel of ELT professionals who, at the end of a busy first day, were by no means too tired to refrain from a talk by the Crystal family. For the next 50 minutes or so David, Hillary and son Ben entertained us all with quotations and excerpts of books and journals all about English and the English.   By means of  role plays and impersonations they travelled through time from about 1.000 years ago until the present day, laboriously illustrating the various phases the English language has gone through during this time. They mentioned accent, the unacceptable action of  ‘splitting infinitives’, the use of swear words and many other subtleties. Undoubtedly, the icing on the cake was the use of P-words, at one time supposedly rated as ‘pleasant to the ear’, such as Papa, prune and prism. The last two were theatrically performed by Ben, who kept reminding us of their resounding phonology till the end of the event. A good laugh for everyone.   A stage, three high chairs, their script and their talent. Key simple yet essential ingredients for a long round of undying applause at the end of another memorable performance.   Hail to the Crystal family!