What do you do with friends and family from out of town when they come visit?

When I was growing up my parents joked they saw more of our hometown when others were visiting than any other time — in part because it is fun to share our city with others.  We also felt like we could see these local places “anytime” and somehow that seemed to me “not now, later.”

Flat Hal decided the first thing he wanted to do with Flat Stanley was take him to see the State Capitol building in downtown Austin.

Like any experienced tourists we brought a camera (okay, I confess, a cellphone that can take nice pictures) and each of the Flat guys posed for a photo with the capitol in the background.

After the photo stop it was off to get their passport stamped!  (NOT the passport they take to foreign countries, that’s not legal, but a special tourist passport for collecting stamps as they travel.)

I forgot my passport, but blank stickers to the rescue!  (I should have let them dry a little longer… life is full of lessons learned.  😎)

English can be difficult, and confusing, even for native speakers, here is an example:

Capital and Capitol are homophones, meaning they sound the same but have different meanings. Capital has a wider range of meanings than capitol, and can refer to: 

A city — The capital of a region, such as a state, province, or nation, is the city where the government is located. For example, Columbus is the capital of Ohio. 

Financial assets. — Capital can refer to money or other financial assets, especially in business contexts. For example, a business might need capital to expand or relocate. 

Uppercase letters    —   Capital can also refer to uppercase letters. 

An adjective  — Capital can be used as an adjective to mean “vital,” “excellent,” or “punishable by death”. 

Capitol is a noun that refers to the building where the legislative branch of government meets. For example, the United States Capitol is the building in Washington, D.C. where Congress meets. The word capitol comes from the Latin word Capitolium, which was the name of the temple of Jupiter in Rome. 

So, if I followed all of that, Flat Stanley came to the Capital area capital area of Austin and visited the Capitol building while he was here.  Hmm, should that be a capital capitol?  *sigh* I did say confusing at times?  Right?

Can you think of some words that sound alike but mean different things?  

Ate: The past tense of “eat” 

Eight: The number that comes after seven 

Merry: Means joyful 

Marry: Related to marrying 

To: A motion or direction 

Too: As well or in addition 

Two: The number two 

According to dictionary.com: 

homonyms

Two words that sound alike and may even be spelled alike but have different meanings, such as trunk (meaning part of an elephant) and trunk (meaning a storage chest). Often used with the same meaning as homophone .

Did Flat Hal and Flat Stanley just explore homonyms as well as the Capitol grounds?

As you can see, on this visit we just scratched the surface of what the Capitol grounds have to offer, including seeing two different types of birds.

To learn more, check out the Capitol’s website.  

https://tspb.texas.gov/plan/brochures/brochures.html

#flatstanley #flathal


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