Warning: this entry contains explicit material not suited for younger readers. If your kid reads this and starts repeating the bad words, it's your damn fault, k?
Language is a powerful thing. I mean, nuclear bombs ain't got nothing on this stuff. To think that two sounds put together, say "you" and "suck", can actually convey images and emotions is mind-boggling. I can't wait for us to find the babel fish, 'cause from where I'm standing the fact that we managed to create so many different coherent ways of communicating is the most improbable thing ever. Forget sliced bread and the wheel, this is the shitnitz.
I won't go into that l33t sp34k kids are throwing around these days. First I don't understand most of it, and second it'll make me want to grab one by the neck and squeeze until he admits that "ZOMG" doesn't make any sense. Grr.
What I mean is: wow, check out that language stuff doesn't that blow your mind? I can communicate in French and English somewhat fluently (although my spelling sucks just about as bad as them l33t punk ass kids) (man, them kids, I just wanna... grr!) and it occurred to me a couple of times in my life that I would like to learn to communicate in other languages too. I took a Japanese class in CEGEP, though that was a complete failure on my part. I learned a couple of words in Spanish from Vero, but I always forget them. But there's this one language that interests me above others: sign language.
I know, I have no reason to learn to sign -- I don't have any mute relatives or friends -- but it's still the coolest thing to me. Past the fact that you can put sounds together to actually express something, to me at least, is this ability to put movements together to express something. Wow. That's really impressive and so darn attractive to me that it makes me wanna sign up for a class.
I can see myself at the supermarket, standing in front of the canned goods while Vero is getting some milk and asking her "do we need soup?" without having to scream. Wouldn't that be the coolest thing? I think it would. If you don't, you're wrong and you suck.
Vero had a sign class in university and she knows a good deal of them. She started teaching me a bunch and, whadayaknow, I remember them. I can even make a sentence! So I know the signs for "water", "boy", "girl", "chocolate", "want" and how to spell my name. But more importantly, I know the signs for "throw up", "shit" and "sex". I'm still trying to figure out if "fuck" is the opposite of "shit", a variation of "sex" or something else. So I can now make sentences, like "I want sex", "you want to shit?" and, the always fun, "chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, throw up".
Ah! good times.
Of course, I'm just using these signs to have fun with Vero, but it leaves me wanting for more. So it's a discussion I started with Vero: should we sign up for an ASL (American Sign Language) class?
To be continued...
