"No other modern language known to me has the exact equivalent of the English 'fun'. The Dutch 'aardigkeit' perhaps comes nearest to it (derived from "aard" which means the same as 'Art' and 'Wesen' in German, and thus evidence, perhaps, that the matter cannot be reduced further). We may note in passing that 'fun' in its current usage is of rather recent origin. French, oddly enough, has no corresponding term at all; German half makes up for it by 'Spass' and 'Witz' together. Nevertheless it is precisely this fun-element that characterizes the essence of play. Here we have to do with an absolutely primary category of life, familiar to everybody at a glance right down to the animal level.
This is from Dutch historian, Johan Huizinga's book, Homo Ludens, in which he argues that play is a process through which culture is created and continues to develop.
I don't know if he's correct about the word, 'fun', but I definitely think he makes some interesting points about the creative power of play."
The synchronicity of this popping up in my inbox while reading PLAYGROUND was just too good not to note : )
