Language Views

Which Language?

noreply@blogger.com (Joanne) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:24:00 +0000

(photo of Gaelic sign in Galway, Ireland by Brian J. Geraghty)

I suppose it's a little early to be making New Year's resolutions, but each year I think more about how monolingual I feel. I've studied French and German, but remember little. I can get by pretty well in Spanish, but haven't used it in a few years.

So I'm mulling over which language. There's this tug of war between what's practical and what's not-so-practical.

It would make sense, for example, to rebuild my skills in Spanish. I was doing so well with it before and it would be a shame to let it go. Plus it's widely spoken in my neck of the woods.

But then the adventurer in me considers other common languages in my area. Russian is one and I've been told it has a complicated grammar (yes, I'm weird, but I love grammar). Polish is another. Portuguese, Arabic and Chinese are frequently listed in community adult education catalogs here.

Then there's a part of me that wants to embark on languages I'll likely not speak often. Gaelic. Irish. Welsh. Japanese. Urdu. Dutch. Esperanto. Serbian. Turkish.

For the time being, I'm going to check out BBC Languages, an online source for many of these languages and more. I can listen to podcasts, watch TV shows, and just get an overall flavor of where to go next linguistically. And even though internet resources are no substitute for actually getting out there and speaking the language in its cultural context, it's a start.

If you were going to learn a new language, which would you choose? Why?

But Don't Call Me...

noreply@blogger.com (Joanne) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:22:00 +0000

Ah, nicknames when we don't even want them.

My mother passed away almost two years ago and I recently found the nameplate from her office cubicle. It seems like a silly thing to save, but on this nameplate, she had expertly cross-stitched her name in bold red, blue, and green DMC floss.

Her name was Barbara. And I remember the story.

When her division moved to a new part of the office, everyone got new nameplates affixed to their cubes. My Mom's said Barb. I suppose the managers were trying to be friendly and folksy, but my Mom was furious.

"That's not my name!" she insisted and she pulled out a column she'd cut out of the paper years earlier. I don't remember if it was from Ann Landers or Dear Abby, but it was one of the two. There was a letter from another Barbara who also didn't like being called Barb. Or Barbie. Or Babs. Yet people often took liberties and just assumed it was okay.

Well, it wasn't okay with my Mom. She re-did her nameplate, tacked the advice column next to it, and kept both there until she retired in 1992.

Yet there were times her friends called her Barb. I don't think she minded so much from friends. And my Dad named a boat after her - the Barby - when they were dating. I asked her if this ever bothered her but she said no. I guess if you're going to have a boat named after you, you let things slide.

So what's your experience? Have you acquired a nickname you don't like? How do you handle it?

Call Me....

noreply@blogger.com (Joanne) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:27:00 +0000

How often do kids use formal titles these days?

I started thinking about this after reading Ben Zimmer's recent piece about the origins of the title Ms. in the New York Times Magazine.

When I was growing up, I wouldn't think of calling a adult by a first name. It was always Mr. Smith or Mrs. Huckleberry or whatever. And I believe this was true for most of my friends. Even my friends' parents called my grandparents Mr. and Mrs.

When I was 28 or 29, a friend's mother invited me to try out for her community orchestra, where she played viola. She introduced me to several members and everyone was on a friendly first name basis. But I could not, for the life of me, call her Carol. Yet calling her Mrs. didn't seem right either. Maybe it's fortunate that my violin playing wasn't up to par and it never became an issue beyond that night.

But times change. Now most of my peers have children. They're approaching that age when they're learning what to call their elders. And I don't think any of them use titles. In fact, if a friend's child addressed me with "Ms." I'd protest. For one thing, my last name is Mason and the alliteration just sounds silly. Second, it just doesn't feel right. Times are different.

How about you? How did you address your parents' friends? How do children address you? And, if you have kids, what do you teach them about forms of address?

Money, Decisions, and Language

noreply@blogger.com (Joanne) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:42:00 +0000

(Photo courtesy of Freerange Stock Archives)

To what extent do your financial decision-making skills decline as you get older?

According to this blog post by Steve Utkus of the Vanguard Center for Retirement Research, the decline can be quite dramatic. A recent study suggests that our financial cognitive skills start declining around age 53. That doesn't mean everyone over age 53 will have trouble, of course. But it gives us plenty to think about, especially as the population lives longer.

I was in my late 30s when my mother was diagnosed with dementia and before long I was handling most of her financial matters. I know I wasn't alone. When I worked for a pension fund, I talked to others who were handling their older relatives' affairs. It's not easy.

So what does this have to do with language?

Utkus makes a valid point: "Do we create a set of ultra-simple financial products through regulation? But not everyone is impaired, and some households will want to use sophisticated financial tools."

When I first read this, I thought of Plain Language, whose advocates call for communications that are easier to understand, whether they come from the government, financial institutions, insurance companies, or any similar organization. This doesn't mean dumbed-down communications...just communications with simpler language. "Plain English" as my mother used to say.

And it isn't just the older generation that might have trouble with complicated language. As my mother's illness progressed and I entered the web of health insurance-speak and nursing-home-speak on her behalf, I was often overwhelmed by all the information I had to sift through. It wasn't the first time I'd been through the process, either. My father had had dementia, too, and these topics and words were all familiar to me.

But on reading Utkus's blog post a second time, I'm not so sure that the language is the problem. The concepts could be in the plainest language in the world, but if there is cognitive decline, the mismatch between concepts and language could be impossible to overcome.

What has been your experience with older folks, language, and cognition?

Punctuation Pet Peeves

noreply@blogger.com (Joanne) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:41:00 +0000

Hooray! A blog dedicated to my punctuation pet peeve!

It's those pesky quotation marks that exist for no reason. You know the kind - they're on telephone poles everywhere:

Lost "Cat"!!
"Yard Sale" June 10 & 11
Motorcycle For Sale By "Owner"

So is it really a cat that's lost? Is the motorcycle stolen property?

Arrgh.

I was so happy to learn that I'm not alone in my peevery. Readers from around the world send photos of such misuses to blogger Bethany Keeley, who collects them for her "blog" of "unnecessary" quotation marks. Definitely check this out. Not only are there great examples, but the commentary is laugh-out-loud funny.

I'm not sure why I get riled about this sort of thing. Maybe it all stems from letters I used to get from an old boyfriend's mother. She always signed them "love" Jane and in moments of insecurity I'd wonder...does she really not like me? Is she just pretending to welcome me to the family? Is she cursing me out behind my back? The mystery remains. Just what did she mean with that cryptic punctuation?

Okay, your turn. What's your punctuation pet peeve?

More on Swearing...and Swearing More

noreply@blogger.com (Joanne) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:12:00 +0000

Are curse words losing their punch?

It's possible. Researchers from the Mexican polling firm Consulta Mitofsky recently conducted a survey about swearing habits in Mexico, according to this article by Marc Lacey in today's New York Times.

Lacey notes that approximately 1.35 billion curse words are used each day in Mexico, adding up to about 500 billion each year. But are those words really having an impact? Are they even intended to have an impact?

The study's authors, according to Lacey, said, "We shouldn't be concerned when we hear such words and it might be better to stop considering them curses at all."

I'm reminded of a 14-year-old American boy I once tutored. He was a native English speaker and had just reached that age when it's cool to look up swear words in the dictionary. First, he questioned how those words landed in the dictionary in the first place...how could they be considered legitimate words if their use was widely forbidden?

Then he wondered why American TV networks bleeped out curse words during broadcasts. "I mean, everyone knows what people are saying. It's no secret."

He made a good point. Just what do those powers-that-be intend to protect us from, if anything? And are curse words really curse words these days?

What's your take?

Foul Words?

noreply@blogger.com (Joanne) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:16:00 +0000

(photo by Chance Agrella)

Anyone who knows me even remotely well knows that I seldom swear. It's not so much from a goody-two-shoes standpoint, but more that swearing was a serious offense when I was growing up. I was sent to my room for saying "damn"' when I was about six years old. I didn't even know what the word meant. I just heard it used and thought it might be fun to enhance my own speech with it. Boy, was I wrong.

In fact, when my family visited a lake in New Hampshire over several summers, you'd better believe I called the dam "the darn."

I do know how to swear. Years ago when I discovered a bat in my apartment, I let out a stream of expletives that would make a sailor blush. But it's not something I'm comfortable with.

I bring this up because I've recently become addicted to an online word game called Fowl Words. Produced by Blockdot, it involves seven hens who lay seven eggs per round. Each egg has a letter. The goal is to construct as many words as you can from those seven letters. I play the timed mode, which gives me two minutes to deal with the chiding chickens and when I misspell, they cluck "uh-oh" at me. And to get lots of points, I have to type really fast.

When I first started playing, I found myself mistyping and - what a surprise - a swear word would come out. Or an ethnic slur. Or nicknames for female body parts. At first, I wouldn't use them, even though I know they are legitimate English words and most have been part of the lexicon for centuries. But after awhile, I just had to ask to myself...whom would I be offending? The chickens? Now the words are regulars.

So if I were playing a word game with someone else, would I use them?

Imagine this scenario. You're on the Reality Scrabble show. (Okay, I know Scrabble might not make a good reality show, but stick with me.) Your opponent is someone's grandmother. Or someone of a certain ethnicity. You're on national television. You have a million dollars at stake and you could win it all just by putting down tiles that might offend.

What would you do?

Welcome!

noreply@blogger.com (Joanne) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:15:00 +0000

(Photo by Mark Sylvester)

Several years ago, I was riding on the Orange Line subway, commuting out of Boston with some colleagues. As the train jolted to a stop, the announcer called out "Haymarket!"

One co-worker named Greg sighed, "If they're going to have people announcing the stops, they should at least hire someone who speaks English!"

Angrily, I retorted, "He was speaking English. He just said it with an accent, like I would have!"

The name of the stop was, indeed, Haymarket. I'm not from the Boston area and my r's are very pronounced. I could not place the announcer's accent, but it was clear he was not a native speaker of English. And he was probably an immigrant.

Some co-workers agreed with Greg. More than once, I heard "They don't want to learn English!" and "Well, they just come here and expect everyone to speak their language. We'll all be speaking Spanish before long!"

And our views came out. Greg said he resented the influx of immigrants. I thought he was being narrow-minded. Huge debate ensued among the group. All because of the word Haymarket.

The power of language.

That's what I'd like to explore in this blog. And since language is all about communication, please feel free to comment, agree, disagree, debate. Don't hesitate to suggest topics you'd like to see discussed. In other words, please join the conversation!

What are your language views?