Lost in translation...

My dear friend Jen has an interesting post on her blog right now, and I can't help but think it spawned from a conversation we had. Well... honestly - most of our blogs are spawned from our conversations, but this one in particular deserves to be read, and to be though about...

http://finiteorinfinity.blogspot.com/2008/05/rose-by-any-other-name.html

Reading this makes me about so many things - but let's narrow it down to just one topic: our words and English slang. Each word has a specific meaning, but when we compile words into a sentence or a paragraph - then it is up to translation? Take the most well known story on earth "the Bible." These words, upon translation, mean so many different things to so many different people. Who's right? Wars have been waged upon deciding who was correct yet, it's never been decided.

The other morning when driving to work, Skip and were talking about something that I found upsetting. Skip proceeded to tell me that he thought it was "funny" that I was upset. So I took this literally; as in "Skip finds this funny, and is laughing at my pain." Well, a half day later, and many, many harsh words, I found out that when he said funny, he meant it more in the sense of irony. So not so much "funny ha ha" but "funny strange." Once we figured out what was lost in translation, we then proceeded to argue about how we use our words. I told him that he should say what he means and if he didn't mean that it was funny, in the literal sense such as "1 a: affording light mirth and laughter : amusing b: seeking or intended to amuse" then he should have used another word. Now.... how fair was that? By saying this, I am in a sense, taking away his right to translate as he sees fit.

Think about how we use these words for a minute... Let's take my sisters favorite saying "It's the bomb!" - well, it really isn't a bomb or you would run, unless of course you are some kind of hero then by all means, throw yourself on it. But she is not saying it is dangerous, or it will explode. She is saying that it is good, or great. And let's not forget our favorite word of the 80's - "bad". Wow, did we overuse that word in the wrong tense. Everything was "bad". She was "bad ugly", he was "bad cute", the fries at McDonald's were "bad good" WTF? Seriously, we did not use the word as originally intended. So now, 20 years later, we have become more advanced and we change our words. Such as, "fat" means overweight, but "phat" means killer, but not killer like a criminal but killer like cool, but not cool like cold, cool like..... see - it truly can be confusing When you look at it this way, nobody has the right to say that anyone has said something wrong. It's all based upon our individual translation.

So try this out; take a word out of the dictionary - one that is not used much but is slightly recognizable and start using it in your everyday conversations with family, friends and co-workers. But... instead of using it with it's correct meaning, assign any meaning to this word that you want. I bet that it wont take any time at all before others start using the word in the same tense.

So Jennifer, again my dear - we agree. It truly is about perspective. Thank you for the thought provoking blog, and in my mind, you are a rose. A beautiful flower, with thorns!