There is no universal written language although English comes close. I say ‘written’ because there is definitely a language that can be understood by almost anyone anywhere in the world. For instance there are obviously certain hand/body/facial signs that can readily be understood no matter the nationality of the person addressed. But the most definitive expression is to use words even if you are addressing your next door neighbor. To get the idea across he has to understand the meanings of the words being used.
The English language changes every day. In fact there are ‘many’ English languages spoken every day. Listen to a typical teen ager or try to read a text message and you get the idea how ‘foreign’ the language may be even though English is the common mother tongue. Every profession has its own unique language. Do you really understand the technical talk used by an electrician, a computer programmer, a surgeon, a drug dealer, a theoretical physicist, a rapper or a toddler learning to talk? Fortunately we do not need to confer with these people except on specific occasions.
Any language has to be flexible in order to accommodate the new words that come into our language almost daily. Then there are some words that are no longer widely used and gradually fade away. Remember reading some of the poetry in your English literature class? It’s almost a foreign language in itself and in reality it is since many of the words used by the poet are no longer generally used or understood by most modern readers.
Did you happen to see the most talked about ‘performance’ on the MTV Video Music Awards program recently? Well there is a new English word that can be used when referring to such a performance: twerking. I doubt that other than here I will ever had an opportunity to use the word, but I understand its meaning in this situation although like many words, it has more than one application. Curious?
I recently read a book review (reviewer Daniel Akst), THE INVERSE OF ENVY which dealt with a word I have occasionally seen but never used until now: schadenfreude.
scha·den·freu·de – [schad -n-froi-duh] , Noun satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else’s misfortune.
This German word initially appeared in 1852 and was seldom used until more recently when it found its way into modern English language usage. While you may never have used the word, may never have even heard or have seen the word much less being able to spell it and pronounce it; still it is a word that identifies a feeling that everyone has shared one way or another. Perhaps you just didn’t know that there was a word that defined the feeling. Now you do.
Everyone has had this feeling. Your neighbor who constantly brags about his business success and high IQ children (which causes envy), has his picture on the front page of the local newspaper charged with failing to pay his income tax or his wife publicly accuses him of adultery. Do you really feel sorry for him or do you secretly say to yourself that it could not happen to a better person? There is joy in his misfortune. That’s schadenfreude.
Your political opposite boasts of his accomplishments until he finds himself facing a judge accused of voter fraud. Do you feel sorry or do you find a kind of joy knowing that he may be facing jail time. Your hated rival football team ranked #1 loses 46-3 to an unranked team at homecoming. Are you sad? That’s schadenfreunde.
You get the picture. There are many applications I could cite and even more that you may recall: satisfaction or pleasure felt at some else’s misfortune.
So there, you have 2 new words, twerking and schadenfreude, to add to your vocabulary. So what about the meaning of the word twerking? It is a type of ‘suggestive’ dancing that perhaps seniors might have witnessed at a carnival side show in the ancient times but today reportedly seen on nearly any late night TV channel. Hide the children!
Someone has said if you use a word twice, it’s yours. True?
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Bill Lee, PO Box 128,
Hamer, SC 29547
