So, I got myself a dot for the time being. To be more precise it's a fullstop. Period. No pun intended. I was thinking for quite a while as to what to blog about, then after fulfilling my 3 to 4 year old 心愿(wish) of wanting to finish up Les Miserables 10th anniversary concert, I got thoroughly inspired by the beauty and importance of words and the power of languages which brought out the lit geek in me again which uh... some might think is better off concealed. Well, it helped that the school happily announced it was Shakespeare's birthday today, and yes, they also kindly mentioned that it was his death anniversary as well. Thus the fullstop was chosen. A simple everyday used punctuation to mark the end of a chapter and the start of a new one. And if you're really bored you can go marvel about the circularity in it all as well but let's not go there shall we?
Yes, this thus brings me to the subject matter of the day - language. It's one of the very fundamentals in human communication but yet one of the most complex, and most problematic. Whilst it does provide a common platform for mutual communication, there always lies the problem of definitions and purpose. At the end of the day the words don't really matter, with the use of sarcasm, the best of words can leave behind a painful sting and similarly, the usage of the wrong word may bring about misunderstanding which in turn leads to a whole slew of problems.
I remember a philo question which we were once asked. Does the lack of a word result in the loss of the concept altogether? The Inuits didn't have a word for either brown or grey(I can't remember which), but does this mean that there's no such thing as brown or grey to them? Similarly, some lit book from my lower sec days tells of a people who don't have a word for thanks, but you can tell their appreciation from the look in their eyes. And so it would seem that the question was really redundant. But why then did the Soviet Union try to introduce New Speak which didn't have a word for free that encompassed the idea of freedom and liberty but just merely that of being of no charge instead. Sure, it's easy to say they were stupid, but then why the global uproar if it really didn't matter?
It is also said, that English remains one of the most relevant and common languages because of it's willingness to adopt foreign phrases into the language thus allowing many concepts to be introduced and for the language to remain updated and more complete. The word pajamas came from Arabic for that matter. Yet this in itself is a problem as communication becomes even harder when there are multiple meanings to a word or when a word that completely changes the meaning of the sentence is not understood and thus ignored altogether. To cite an anecdote, there was once someone who told the person that what he said, he said in jest. Unfortunately though, the person did not understand the meaning of the word and conflict arose as a result. As far fetched as this might seem given the social circles most of us move in, the possibility of such situations remains very real indeed given that the story didn't come from some far away place.
My point of all this rambling? Just a wish, on the bard's birthday which was when I started this, that there'd be a little more patience and effort in this world. Patience to remain calm and think from the other person's perspective; Effort to be clear in your own communication and clarify any doubts instead of just ignoring or jumping to conclusions. It's hard to tell when a mistake becomes one too many; when funny becomes stale. It's hard to slow down, pause, and repeat. But isn't it harder when interpersonal relationships break down for the smallest of mistakes?
Eugene remembered @ 9:14 PM
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