Matters

Ever since Kennedy has started to “read,” or at least identify letters and their sounds, she has always associated the letter M with Mommy. And, even with her knack for brand identification (i.e. Disney, Macintosh, even the Texas Lottery logo), whenever she sees the golden arches of McDonalds, she always yells, “It’s an M for Mommy!” This excerpt from a new book brings to mind that sweet innocence:

The great majority of languages start the word for "mother" with an m sound. The word mammal comes from the mammary gland. Which comes from baby talk: mama. To sound like a grownup, we refine mama into mother; the Romans made it mater, from which: matter. And matrix. Our word for the kind of animal we are, and our word for the stuff that everything is made of, and our word for a big cult movie all derive from baby talk.

Go on, read more. It gets better.