Lions, tigers and naked bears. Oh my!

If my rudimentary knowledge of English and history is correct the actual English language is a curious mix of old Gaelic, Latin and various German tribal vernaculars. In this mish mash of words of the English language, various individual words come along that sound, when spoken, just like another word in English from having such a large base of languages to draw from.

Whether it be two, to and too or the ever tricky they're, their and there. One could sit here and probably list hundreds of such words that, in themselves have different meanings and yet when committed to paper, represent a challenge to the author to determine which one to use and/or to make sure a typo doesn't become an embarrassment when they submit their work.

My own little hic-up in this regard comes with the two words; bare and bear. Sure, it's a rather laughable little problem that one can mix these two words up but we all have our weaknesses. On an intellectual level, it is obvious that the bear is the big, hairy animal that lumbers through our forests while the other word can be a substitute for being naked. On that basic level, that fundamental usage, I am good between the two.

It's when the usage goes past that and into the realm of turns of phrase or change noun to verb, adjective to adverb. Perhaps the most common mistake with regards to these words that I make is when using them to convey the idea of carrying something. Do you bare a load? The unbridled, naked truth that you are carrying something heavy? Stripped away from any sense of self delusion that what you are lugging along is not light? Or is it that you have tossed your saddlebags across the back of your rather hairy and large pet to take the load off of your now naked shoulders?

Do you bare your thoughts? Taking off the coverings people build up as a defense against all the negative interactions we unfortunately have with others, or perhaps we bear our thoughts. Make them big and gruff, perhaps letting them hibernate for long periods of time within our subconscious.

It is in this that my mind, as well as my typing fingers, go insane and fumble to find the right answer to which to use. It takes an actual effort to produce the correct usage, and spell check is not always a help, due to the fact I can spell both words correctly. So it would seem that this is my cross to bear and so to deal with burden, I come to you to bare my thoughts in hope that laughing at me might make others with similar problems feel a little better about themselves.