BAC

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

The Power of Words...

I subscribe to one of those "Word a Day" websites. I know, a little nerdy and strange, right?
I guess one could articulate that I attempt to personify a highly educated academician who breaches linguistic frontiers with each locution, and still it gives me a sense of ostentatious flagrancy that I cannot bring myself to propitiate.

Or...in other words...One could argue that I like to talk like I'm wearin' my big girl panties and I don't give a rat's ass if you like it or not!

You see, to me, although I am somewhat educated, I could not talk like that. For one thing, it wouldn't be as fun because I couldn't use colloquialisms like "rat's ass" or "big girl panties" to express myself, but moreover, I am just not fluent in such verbiage.

People have argued that the "American-English" is a bastardized version of the "British-English" that is spoken today. But I would argue that their "British-English" is just as debased as ours. Being a Literature major in college, I fell in love with the Victorian classics. It was a combination of their proper vernacular along with their etiquette and pomp and circumstance that has been long thrown by the wayside. Back in the day, your words could make or break you within a social circle. You could ruin your reputation (which was worth more than your bank account) with the slightest indiscretion. Back then the pen truly was mightier than the sword!

And as I receive my daily online submissions, it makes me realize that so much of it has been lost. Gone are the days of proper etiquette and respectable discourse and frankly, it is a shame. I am not sure if it is because of an inadequate and lackadaisical educational system here in the USA, which is consequently making us stupider or just pure human laziness!

I worked as a professional nanny for almost a decade of my life, and during that time I worked for a family from South Africa. They speak the more proper "British English" and the differences in everyday words became a bit of a game. We laughed and giggled over the difference of a peach "pit" or peach "stone" or when the mother kindly asked me to grab the "pram" out of the "boot". Needless to say, I looked at her like she was speaking a foreign language and subsequently I got a crash course in the difference between American English and British English! (Oh, and by the way, she was asking me to get the stroller out of the trunk of the car!)

I also learned that within British English there are also distinctions between "high" English and "low" English, and this is closely connected with one's class or social position. But then we also have something similar here in America. Our slang words which have entirely taken over the proper language like "cell phone" instead of "cellular phone" or a "gas" station rather than "petroleum" or "fuel" station, which they were more commonly known as many years back (those are poor examples, but you get my point). And then there is Ebonics...don't even get me started on that!!

All of this leads me to my point (I do have one I promise)...we are all speaking the same language whether you are speaking "proper" British English or American English, high English or low English, Ebonics or just plain slang - and it doesn't really matter. Does it make you a better person to say things like "personify" instead of "act like" or "articulate" instead of "to say"? Are you anymore educated, intelligent, or higher class if you used the latter? Or is it purely a passive and somewhat neglectful attitude toward the pomp and ceremony that was once previously of the highest importance when speaking one's true vernacular?

It all seems a bit preposterous and ignorant to suggest such flawed logic. But then why have I spent an evening composing this blog post? It seems it does matter, to me at least. And everyday that I get one of those words that I have never heard and I read the definition, I put it away in my mental Rolodex never to be exercised, because I am not expected or even welcome to use it and if I did, it would only produce a negative response. Or should I say...I should make an objurgation if someone were to make a kerfuffle, with their top-lofty attitude about my irrefragable vocabulary to adumbrate my superior percipience! Just kidding.

Wishing you all a happy and healthy day!!

Here are some fun words for you:
British=American
biscuit=cookie
pram=stroller
boot=trunk
holiday=vacation
bobby=policeman
shag= (our infamous four lettered "F" word for "to fornicate")
fanny= (our infamous four lettered "C" word for "vagina")
rubbish=garbage
lift=elevator
knickers=panties
Father Christmas=Santa Claus
football=soccer
fag= cigarette
fringe=bangs (hair)
garden=yard
standing in the queue=standing in line
hoover=vacuum
Joe Bloggs=John Doe
accumulator=battery
bonnet=hood (of a car)
Chemist shop=pharmacy
sweeties=candies
Casualty Department=Emergency Room
costume=swimsuit
crisps=potato chips
dinner jacket=tuxedo
driving wheel=steering wheel
dummy=pacifier
Tube=Subway
zebra crossing=crosswalk

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