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When speak does Yoda, listen Jedi does!

Fun we are having,
when like Yoda do we speak

When striving to be understood, keep your sentences short and as clear as possible. That's what we learn in grammar school.

But with the return of "Star Wars" comes the phenomenon of Yodaspeak, which has turned many a grammarian's world upside down by turning sentences inside out and backward.

The wise Yoda says to Luke Skywalker, "No more will I teach you today," where a simple "get lost" would do. Or, properly, "I will not teach you more today."

Far be it from me to talk grammar. Grade-school sentence diagramming sessions were nothing if not confusing. But Yodaspeak occurs when the adverbial or modifying phrase inadvertently insinuates its way into a sentence before subject and verb. In Yodaspeak, the 10 Commandments would have to be rewritten as "The name of the Lord thy God thou shalt not in vain take."

Let's just say it's a whole lot messier than what is taught in those "Dick and Jane" readers.

In real life, there's not much use for Yodaspeak, as it lacks immediacy. "Dog Boy, away from me get!" does not have the bite of "Get away from me, Dog Boy!"

The Terminator's "I'll be back" becomes a downright poetic, rather than menacing, "Back, I will be."

And children would have ample reason to tune out a parent who claims, "When your age was I, 10 miles to school had I to walk."

Why, only a poet could get away with Yodaspeak. But if that's the case, Elizabeth Barrett Browning's famous ode to love could stand some editing: "How do thee I love? The ways, let me count."

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By Nadine Kam, Star-Bulletin