I find it difficult at times to explain. I know what I want to say, just struggle with a way to say it. I suppose that is why it is difficult to be a writer or poet. I'm more of a builder or mechanic than anything else. I like to deal with hard facts and figures. Assembling words is a different thing altogether. That is simply because one word can mean so many things. It really is all about context. Getting the words together and having my context match yours is the goal. It is not about convincing you I am right, it is about you understanding the context. When that happens you already knew what I was saying. Does that make sense to you ? It's not easy.
I was thinking about this as I listen to all the talk around me. We are all using the same words just in a different way. We use words to name things. Each generation begins to rename things based on that generations meaning of the word. Take the word Gay for instance. Was a time when it just meant happy. Gay implied that you were almost giddy with delight. Light and airy was the mood. Just how did gay become to mean what it does today ? I don't know, but first it was called being queer. Why queer ? Because it was a different behavior than what was expected. Was it a condemnation ? I don't think it was intended in that fashion, it was just a descriptor. No different really than referring to the color of one's skin as a description. Now we use ethnicity and that can be thought off as discriminatory. Fact is, it is. It is discriminating , refining what we see or know so as it give a more accurate description. Discriminating is a bad thing right ? Depends upon context doesn't it ?
I've written about all this is the past and will most likely write about it again. I tend to have these reoccurring themes. This mornings was sparked by another meme. It is the one saying that Native Americans actually had five genders. My immediate response is, actually they had, and still do, just two genders. I realize what they are talking about are personalities. Gender and personality are different things altogether, like apples and oranges. Whenever I see people attempting to use them interchangeably I bristle. You can say I support your choices, that you wish to dress as a woman, a man, or whatever. You can say I support your sexual preferences, your choice of partners. What you can't say is, there are more than two genders ! That is an incorrect statement. I bristle not so much at the choices those folks make, I bristle at the lie.
The biggest issue I see today concerns this use of language. It is why everyone gets so upset. The context of our conversations are not being shared. This may be in part to the this mass communication we all use today. The descriptors I use within my circle of friends and acquaintances that are perfectly acceptable and understood may not be in yours. You are offended ! We are all aware of " funny sayings " and such that people in different regions of the country use. Was a time when we laughed about that, asking what does that mean ? Mostly we knew what was intended and just hadn't heard it put that way before. We understood context. Today folks tend to get offended. When folks get offended they tend to get defensive. What it is they are defending ? They are defending their context ! They begin defending what they believe they said, not what you are hearing. And that is the root of the problem. It has always been the problem.
In 1604 a man created the first dictionary of the English language. The purpose, of course, was to explain what each word meant. Two hundred years later Noah Webster makes his and it is the one most of us English speaking people are aware of. Today there are many different ones. We have ones for classic meanings and then we have the Urban dictionary.
I wish we could all just stop changing the names. Just say what you mean, or what exactly you are talking about. Take this hot button issue on immigration. Calling these folks undocumented immigrants is just a renaming. They are, criminally trespassing upon sovereign soil, Illegal aliens. It is an accurate description of what they are, nothing more. What's wrong with that ? Calling them anything else is just a lie. The description has nothing to do with their intentions. Actions and intentions are different things ! You can not make a lie truth by changing the name. In my experience we change the name of things in an effort to make it fit the conversation. What we once called " making a pass" can now be sexual assault ! What changed ? The action or the intention ? I'd say the way the action is perceived is the only thing having changed. Perception contains the context. Change the perception and you change intent ? Only from your point of view. It's a slippery slope indeed.
I was thinking about this as I listen to all the talk around me. We are all using the same words just in a different way. We use words to name things. Each generation begins to rename things based on that generations meaning of the word. Take the word Gay for instance. Was a time when it just meant happy. Gay implied that you were almost giddy with delight. Light and airy was the mood. Just how did gay become to mean what it does today ? I don't know, but first it was called being queer. Why queer ? Because it was a different behavior than what was expected. Was it a condemnation ? I don't think it was intended in that fashion, it was just a descriptor. No different really than referring to the color of one's skin as a description. Now we use ethnicity and that can be thought off as discriminatory. Fact is, it is. It is discriminating , refining what we see or know so as it give a more accurate description. Discriminating is a bad thing right ? Depends upon context doesn't it ?
I've written about all this is the past and will most likely write about it again. I tend to have these reoccurring themes. This mornings was sparked by another meme. It is the one saying that Native Americans actually had five genders. My immediate response is, actually they had, and still do, just two genders. I realize what they are talking about are personalities. Gender and personality are different things altogether, like apples and oranges. Whenever I see people attempting to use them interchangeably I bristle. You can say I support your choices, that you wish to dress as a woman, a man, or whatever. You can say I support your sexual preferences, your choice of partners. What you can't say is, there are more than two genders ! That is an incorrect statement. I bristle not so much at the choices those folks make, I bristle at the lie.
The biggest issue I see today concerns this use of language. It is why everyone gets so upset. The context of our conversations are not being shared. This may be in part to the this mass communication we all use today. The descriptors I use within my circle of friends and acquaintances that are perfectly acceptable and understood may not be in yours. You are offended ! We are all aware of " funny sayings " and such that people in different regions of the country use. Was a time when we laughed about that, asking what does that mean ? Mostly we knew what was intended and just hadn't heard it put that way before. We understood context. Today folks tend to get offended. When folks get offended they tend to get defensive. What it is they are defending ? They are defending their context ! They begin defending what they believe they said, not what you are hearing. And that is the root of the problem. It has always been the problem.
In 1604 a man created the first dictionary of the English language. The purpose, of course, was to explain what each word meant. Two hundred years later Noah Webster makes his and it is the one most of us English speaking people are aware of. Today there are many different ones. We have ones for classic meanings and then we have the Urban dictionary.
I wish we could all just stop changing the names. Just say what you mean, or what exactly you are talking about. Take this hot button issue on immigration. Calling these folks undocumented immigrants is just a renaming. They are, criminally trespassing upon sovereign soil, Illegal aliens. It is an accurate description of what they are, nothing more. What's wrong with that ? Calling them anything else is just a lie. The description has nothing to do with their intentions. Actions and intentions are different things ! You can not make a lie truth by changing the name. In my experience we change the name of things in an effort to make it fit the conversation. What we once called " making a pass" can now be sexual assault ! What changed ? The action or the intention ? I'd say the way the action is perceived is the only thing having changed. Perception contains the context. Change the perception and you change intent ? Only from your point of view. It's a slippery slope indeed.
No comments:
Post a Comment