Specifically during the past election, I would get forwarded insanely childish and partisan propaganda chain letters. One thing that I noticed on a few of them was the signature of the original author, furiously pointing out the clear, obvious injustice of having to press 1 for English. This is Amurca, durnit! Speak English! Which, at the same time, made me think of the quote, don't know by who, that says Great Britain and the US are two nations divided by a common language. I could make other references, such as uproars over Ebonics, use of the word "dude," or the great-great grandson of Francis Scott Key getting mad that the National Anthem was sang in Spanish. You get the gist.
But I was reading a blog today which had this little tidbit:
‘‘Physitions teache that there ben thre kindes of spirites,’’ wrote Bartholomew Traheron in his 1543 translation of a text on surgery, ‘‘animal, vital, and naturall. The animal spirite hath his seate in the brayne called animal, bycause it is the first instrument of the soule, which the Latins call animam.’’
Do you know how many of those words are, right as I type this, being underlined in red for their incorrect spelling? Given all the old texts we have access to (and that, in the case of English, a language that is not the oldest in the book) how in the world does someone defend their own language as being correct? A math equation, sure, I can understand someone sticking to that, but pronunciation and spelling? They're just a play on words. How can someone be so stuck as to believe that the rest of the world speaks incorrectly? Especially since they will most likely claim they're defending history and tradition, two things that language is infamous for making a mockery of. Even further, if this person believes that their way of speaking is the correct one, why aren't they using it better?
I really found the word "bycause" interesting because (ha!) it makes so much more sense than the word just in front of my parenthetical laughter. Why did something happen? By cause of... But to say something happen be cause of... makes no sense. Yet that's how it is. Lazy tongues, bad ears, and ethnocentrism have shaped language far, far more than any grammar books. The latter of those three has shaped culture far more than anything else period. Just ask the Aztecs.
We should revamp Ellis Island, we don't ask for enough. Gimme accents, slangs, slurring contractions and action. If someone doesn't speak your language, how do you know they're wrong?
13.3.09
Hold it Up
If someone knew they would get away with a bank robbery but still wouldn't do it, I would never date that person. That sort of integrity rarely leads to honesty, at least not the kind I like.
There's a guy, his name doesn't matter, and his claim to fame is that he's always flat out truthful. Blunt about it. "I'm looking at your breasts," seemed to be his most common thing to admit, or at least something physical/sexual in nature. Which is fine, it's what I'm thinking about most of the time, too, but why is it that bare honesty always seems to revolve around admitting something sexual? Are there things we lie about more than sex, or how often we're thinking about it, or how we'd really like to be having it? I'm sure there are, but at the same time I'm not so sure. I think that, to some degree, it's the easiest type of thing to admit. There are some aspects/secrets that people genuinely don't want to tell, but sex never seems to be in that category, who isn't dying for that perfect social situation where everyone is TOTALLY DISHING about how hot it was and what could've made it hotter. It's pretty fun.
Sexual taboo is, at best, a white lie. We seem to be dovetailing away from the Victorian modes of "chastity," which only served to create new, far more intense fantasies and a handful of effective putdowns (i.e. bastard). Why it is we hate our own behavior I'll just never know, there are so many other ways to be obsessed with sex, but some people can't seem to get enough of what they hate. But I suppose it makes sense. Even if people are doing something you absolutely abhor, there's still (or at least should be) a part of you that's insanely jealous that they're doing it, and noting inspires jealousy like the sex you're not having.
I'm looking at your breasts.
There's a guy, his name doesn't matter, and his claim to fame is that he's always flat out truthful. Blunt about it. "I'm looking at your breasts," seemed to be his most common thing to admit, or at least something physical/sexual in nature. Which is fine, it's what I'm thinking about most of the time, too, but why is it that bare honesty always seems to revolve around admitting something sexual? Are there things we lie about more than sex, or how often we're thinking about it, or how we'd really like to be having it? I'm sure there are, but at the same time I'm not so sure. I think that, to some degree, it's the easiest type of thing to admit. There are some aspects/secrets that people genuinely don't want to tell, but sex never seems to be in that category, who isn't dying for that perfect social situation where everyone is TOTALLY DISHING about how hot it was and what could've made it hotter. It's pretty fun.
Sexual taboo is, at best, a white lie. We seem to be dovetailing away from the Victorian modes of "chastity," which only served to create new, far more intense fantasies and a handful of effective putdowns (i.e. bastard). Why it is we hate our own behavior I'll just never know, there are so many other ways to be obsessed with sex, but some people can't seem to get enough of what they hate. But I suppose it makes sense. Even if people are doing something you absolutely abhor, there's still (or at least should be) a part of you that's insanely jealous that they're doing it, and noting inspires jealousy like the sex you're not having.
I'm looking at your breasts.
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