“Your language is stupid.”
A linguistics professor from Korea said that to me just last semester after having difficulty conjugating a verb. “Perhaps,” I thought, “you should have studied Korean linguistics.” (I did not say that aloud, though, because that would have been rude). Later I found myself actually thinking, “Home girl is totally right.” English is a disaster of a language that could really use a little stability. We’ve got so many irregular verbs that the regular verbs are the minority; we have an ever-expanding slang lexicon in American English alone, and the realm of nonverbal communication is a daunting task for new speakers.
Yet Beyonce can practically tell the world that she is pregnant in a song, and no one understands until she rubs her belly.
I guess it’s just the little linguist in me, but this stuck out to me more than cross-dressing Lady Gaga. Touching your stomach is not a universal sign of pregnancy, but saying (or in Beyonce’s case singing) “I want you to feel the love that’s growing inside of me” is a pretty clear indicator, I’d say.
I’ll be honest though, I didn’t get it until after the fact. Why is it that we can hear one thing, but don’t really understand until an action occurs? The same is true for other things, like love and threats, but is it possible that without certain gestures some phrases would be meaningless?
Do actions really speak louder than words?
Wow. What to say? You are right, and thank God English is our first language. Otherwise our sister would be like Helen Keller trying to communicate.
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ReplyDeleteI concur. If I didn't grow up as an English speaking human and had to learn this crazy language of ours as a second language, I would be like Helen Keller. No doubt. I have a hard time even articulating what I have to say on a dailey basis now. I'm constantly at battle with words. Do I want to speak pidgin today and totally rearrange my whole sentence and leave out words and use the term beef as slang for fighting? Or do I want to speak redneck and decide on whether it's beef or deer for dinner? I don't know. It'll come out whichever. In either case, you would be able to tell by my facial expressions that I wouldn't want to fight or eat deer. Nice post nerd!
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