WordPress Daily Prompt: Seven Wonders

Khalil Gibran once said that people will never understand one another unless language is reduced to seven words. What would your seven words be? 

Photographers, artists, poets: show us SEVEN.

So let’s talk about Seven. The photo shows the path to the part of the village where I live and in the background is the ever present first chain of the Jura Mountains. There are altogether seven chains, beginning at the northern edge of the middle land in Switzerland. If you climb the first chain you arrive in a valley and then appears the second chain and so on over seven mountain ridges until you arrive in the flat lands again. From my area you would be reach Basel if the Jura was not in between, which is also on the border to France and Germany, so imagine that language mixture which brings us to the subject of the blog.

Naturally, being an ignorant infidel, I had never heard of Khalil Gibran. Not wanting to be left out I had a quick look up. It seems he died somewhere in the middle of the 20^th century, being born in the 19^th so we never had the chance to meet. I had a glance through his works and discovered it is probably not my sort of thing, although I would not say that his books are not interesting. He seemed to have a few quotes in stock with sense behind them, but reducing language to seven words is rather extreme.

I noticed some of my blogging colleagues mention George Carlin. Basically I do not know this person so well although the name rings a bell. I discovered he is a comedian and even found seven valuable words to use, although more for using when angry, injured or annoyed, so-called swear words. I also have a few in my vocabulary, even in two languages: English and Swiss German. Believe me Swiss German have more than seven and some can be quite colourful.

I am now not going to bore you with my choice of seven words to replace the many others in our language, but I gave this problem a thought and decided to base my research on the process of elimination.

Who needs definite and indefinite articles, they are superfluous (so is that last word). The Russians never even have them in their language. Do we really need adjectives? They can become the words of insult, so let us cancel them. If you happen to be speaking or leaning one of those languages where you have case forms, then adjectives complicate everything. You have to conjugate them. There we can be thankful that the case forms in English have either disappeared or no longer play an important part. Now if you are speaking Latin (no wonder it is a dead language today), German or Russian, you will never get the hang of it. You can learn it, but when speaking time is lost by exploring which word to use in the correct version and I definitely dislike losing time when speaking, it is a waste of time and energy..

You want to speak arabic, then you have a problem. They even have sun and moon letters and slip the word for “and” (wa) in between each word in a list. Yes, they have very long lists – bread and butter and tea and fruit and jam and and and etc. We have now reduced the use of adjectives and articles. Prepositions can also be a means of complication. Some need the dative case, some the accusative and some another case belonging to some other language. One way or the other who needs them, so just eliminate them.

Nouns? Why not, just point at the object you mean. The object is not present? Then do not use it. Do we really want to talk about things we cannot see? Just save it for a time when we are there and can point to it.

We have verbs describing an action. Does it really interest anyone what you are doing, thinking or saying. Your actions are clear to be seen, so why use a verbal description?

Basically I think I have just eliminated language as such. There is not very much left, except for the swear words, so perhaps George Carlin is right.

Personally I think this Khalil whatshisname missed the point somewhere. Reduce my language to seven words? What a boring life. I love talking, having a conversation, I even talk to my cats when no-one else is here. There are times when alone that I have quite an exciting conversation with myself and seven words would never suffice. As far as understanding is concerned, if I want someone to understand I manage. Sometimes having a loud clear voice suits the purpose. And if I something annoys me, I drop a hammer on my foot or shut a finger in the door – then I can always revert to the George Carlin linguistic talents.

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WordPress Daily Prompt: 2100

The language of the future: what will it be like? Write an experimental post using some imagined vocabulary — abbreviations, slang, new terms. 

Photographers, artists, poets: show us FUTURE.

‘old on, I don’t ‘ave to imagine any noo language or vocab, it’s ‘ere already. Just take a walk on the street and open up your ‘earoles. No real kid speaks the queen’s fing anymore. They can’t even rite it. Just stick your nose in this fb fing, it’s all done wiv letters and numbers, words ‘ve kicked it. Oo needs em, just a waste of computer space if you ask me, but don’t ask me cause I’m one of those gruftis, like old and not wiv it.

I’m speakting 2 U all by the way. Where I live, like we ‘av a lot of languages all mixed up. I ‘eard a gal talking once to ‘er mates in a shop about wot to buy. Nah it was all in Schwiizer tütsch, u ig bi sicher das dir das nit verstah. Anyhow she said wot abaht äpfelküche, ‚cos she wanted to know if she fancied like an apple pie. The girl turned round like and said, oh yeah, mi piace äpfelkküche git it. Wot she said was “Yes, I like apple pie”, the trubble being that ‘er mum and dad, ‘er grufties, came from I tie land, like Italy, and so she spoke a bit of everyfing altogether: a real mischmasch. Now we ‘ave a lot of those secondo types in Switzerland, speaking all the languages mixed up, so that’s the way it comes out. A bit of Schwiizertütsch u e bit of italianski, wotever.

I have been cutting me brain in a few bits and pieces since living in this multi culti place. I ain’t ‘ad it eesy, specially cos me own lingo is sort of English, you know, cockney. Get the gist of that, in my brain it was all cockney wiv no aches and I ainn’t got nuffing, like I’ave got somefing, but we do it all wiv two no’s wot make a yes, work that one out. So one way or the ovver fings got a bit complicated. I did a few years Ben Sherman in England, but it weren’t that way when I got to Schwiez, where they all speak a bit ov everyfing. A bit of Itie, a bit of Ben Sherman, a bit of frog (not being nasty, but they call us the roast beef). There I was stuck in the middle of everyfing, but I was in Zürich so it was the old Ben Sherman schwiizer tütsch wot made it a bit easy. Nah if I ‘ad landed somewhere in the middle, like in the röschti graben, it would ‘ave been a real eliot ness wouldn’t it. I would ‘av ben parleying a bit of frog, and a bit of Ben Sherman schwiizer tütsch and that would ‘ave been a right pickle.

Me old man parleys a bit of everyfing, but ‘e likes ‘is old Ben Sherman wiv the gruetzis and mercis and ciaous. A rite old mix-up that is. ‘E can parley a bit of the old anglo as well fank gawd but not like I do. Ain’t everyone a cockney, but this is all abaht wot ‘appens in the future ain’t it. Not that I fink it will all be cockny, it will probably be all that leetspeak or whatever. Nah ‘ow can you replace I luv you with 459. Don’t sound very romantic does it, whispering the magic numbers 459 in the earole of your mate. But then you can always add a <3 and I ain’t found out wot that means yet either.

I fink I’ve dun enuf damage for today. It might not be the language of the future, but I fink if you fall asleep today and do the wakey wakey in 2100, you ain’t gonna understand ‘alf of wot they are talking abaht, let alone all those text fings going on in the Face bookie side. Someow I ‘ave a feeling that even the youngsters ain’t going to understand each ovver either, specially if they ‘ave forgotten wot a word looks like, with letters and all the trimmings.

I nah ‘ave only one fing to say to you all see ya 2morro

If ya want a translation like normal, then I ain’t doing it – ask Wikipedia or Bill Gates, they seem to know it all.

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