Lexical Gaps
Definition: A lexical gap (or lacuna) is the absence of a word in a particular language. Several types of lexical gaps are possible, such as untranslatability, missing inflections, or nonsense words.
Random example: while we have a word for children who lose their parents (orphans), there is no comparble word in our culture currently for a parent whose child dies. The lack of such a word, then, is a lexical gap in English.
On the move.
For the past month, I’ve gone back and forth, wavering about my decision to move. The move in question would have me packing up my bags for the third time in 2009, this time traveling out of the state of Illinois to Ohio. Cincinnati to be exact.
Why Cincinnati? Well, it’s easy. A job.
Two days ago, the Chi-town Daily News laid off their entire staff. The next day, the Union-Sun Times merger was officially announced. Journalism in Chicago has gotten exponentially harder.
I’ve always said that I will go where the job takes me - Sure, my dream has been, since I finished my novel, to move to Chicago, get it published and have a quaint apartment with a big window overlooking the city and a wonderful gentleman to share it all with. That’s point b. What’s point a? Being a struggling single music journalist trying to make a name for herself.
This summer, I did all of that. I struggled, remained single and made a name for myself.
The job I got only tethers me to the midwest. I could remain in Chicago. I could. But what’s keeping me here? This week, I lost my first interview (a big one at that) due to the clamoring number of now-jobless music journalists scrambling to get an interview that might find them a new home with a not-defunct publication. Would that have happened in Cinci? No.
Additionally, Cinci’s cost of living is half of what it is in Chicago which will give me the freedom and spare change to be able to travel for interviews. The most fun I’ve had on the job has been when I’ve traveled - Indianapolis for Bad Veins, Lansing, Michigan for Kevin Devine. It’s not like I’m traveling the world but seeing more of the midwest is an experience I enjoy - Getting to see foreign venues, different skylines, and doing it all anonymously. I get to be a stranger in a strange city instead of a girl in a familiar city who’s incredibly lonely. Which is another reason I’m making the transition from Chicago to Cincinnati.
I’m not expecting Cincinnati to be perfect, I’m just expecting it to feel a little more like home.
