Huizinga’s chapter 2 is my favourite. words and languages (German in particular for some reason these days) are always fascinating. all the Greek and Latin is a little hard to get through since I don’t have that background (I imagine those were more common educational staples back in the 30s) but the whole idea that the ways we use words like “play” and “playful” and “game” and “sport” and all that is important. I don’t know if I’m smart enough to know what to do with that importance, but there is probably a lot to be done. this chapter of Homo Ludens is an example. it enlightens cultures for us, and almost starts to sort of map how play shows up differently and is embedded differently in different parts of the world. that we play games and play instruments but don’t play our voices… that’s interesting. but you can play a recording of someone singing. I think something in the word play seems to need at least some external dealing-with-the-world and dealing-with-others-ness. its connection to learning and rhetoric is in there too. it’s really cliche to say everything we do is some kind of game we play and modify as we go, but it’s true. and it’s helpful (if frustrating sometimes) to remember.