Sept 9, 2009
Johnson, Vermont
Language is fluid. It is adoptable, it is ever changing. When I think of language I think of this footage of an octopus escaping a box that has an one inch opening. The octopus sticks its limbs out of the hole one by one, you think of course it can do that, but then you wonder about its head which is much larger than the opening, just when you start to lose faith in its ability to make it out of the box, it some how squeezes its head through as well.
We meet people, as we spend time with them, we began to take on their accents, we began to incorporate words from their vocabulary into ours.
This one artist told me her roommate would say “Church!” instead of “Christ!” and after a while, she started to as well. When I am with my British friends, “college” becomes “uni” and “brilliant” has become a permanent part of my vocabulary. When we are in foreign lands we attempt to speak the language the best we can, even if we can only say “hello” and “thank you.” The practice of learning / speaking a foreign tongue makes sense in foreign lands but why are we naturally inclined to adopted new vocabulary when we are all speaking the Queen’s Language? Do we feel that if we used their vocabulary then the other person would understand us that much better? Is it the same impulse as “Hey, look at me, I speak your language. Listen! You must understand me if we are using the same words.”
What is even more fascinating is that we become amalgam of language and words that is unique to us and us alone as we travel through life and pick up words and phrases like a magpie.
I decided that I will no longer use the phrase “Good Morning” instead I will say “Buenos Dias” instead. When I say “Buenos Dias” a smile follows, but the phrase “Good Morning” does not inspire a smile.
What are some shinny words and phrases you have picked up along the way?
