jackofallgeeks | Communication

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Communication

So, I was reading Megan's Most Recent Post, and thought I might post something on communication. Sadly, I'm not sure what I have to say on the subject. How absolutely appropriate.

I love language. It's actually an odd phenomenon if I think about it long enough. Both Leslie and Gene - two pewople I have known for a great length of time - seem fascinated with Language. My brother Josh also takes an interest, mostly in 'dead' languages like latin, greek, and french. looking around my current circle of friends, Beth, Rae, and Tara are all interested enough in Language to study it in depth.

Somehow, I think my love of language is similar to all of theirs and yet... different. Estranged, in a way I can't explain, only that I feel I don't wrap my mind around it the same way they do. It may seem obvious, and the difference may be impossible to find, but I'm interested in language insofar as it it communicates. As I mentioned to Hexxy in a comment on Leslie's Journal, I don't care so much WHAT terms you use, so long as they are defined precisely and used consistantly.

I admire a number of my friends, Nifer, Louis, and Rachel, because of the way they seem to be able to communicate. Nifer, as you may know, conveys meaning in her writing (especially her lyrics) in ways I can only hope to emulate. I'm afraid my praise comes too often for it to be taken seriously, but Louis seems to have a way of conveying thought that I don't believe I could touch if I tried. Rachel has Theatre, which I admire in general, but it is also another form of communication which I do not possess.

I've rather lost my train of thought due to exhaustion. Let's see if I can finish up my last few points.

Firstly, Megan said something about not opening up. I, myself, have learned that I like to tralk, and have realized on occation that I have a tendancy, especially when I feel really comfortable, to pick up a conversation and run with it. I talk too much. Infact, I'm quite confident that I would tell my life story to anyone willing to listen. I think that might say something about me.

It occures to me that I find deep significance where other likely do not. I find profound statements in ordinary comments, made in passing. "Art requires contrast," for example, I saw sometime today and it just jumped out at me as strikingly meaningful, in scopes well beyond simply the artistic.

All today I was itching for a little verbal sparing, some intellectual combat if you will. Just a little back and forth play with someone on some subject or another. I would perhaps approach Kincaid, except that I fear she could quite succinctly shred me to ribbons. I suppose I admire her ability to communicate as well.

I hate it when I have a great inspiration for posting, and then my brain starts shutting down half-way through.
I know I have alot more to say, I just can't think of how to say it.
How absolutely appropriate.

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i enjoyed your last 'sparing' on surichan's post. i myself am a fan of language but of the 'unproper' type. i love to listen to local dialects and see what parts get dropped and re-arranged. my own language use is kinda jumbled and flowing, i let words and ideas fall how they may. it's also great fun to take things out of context thus making them mean all sorts of things.

^_^;; Would this sparring have been recent? I don't remember any sparring, myself (though I suppose I may fall into it without realizing). There WAS one time (http://www.livejournal.com/talkread.bml?journal=starlight1184&itemid=21208) that I had a nice bout with Bernie. That was cool. 'You're right, but...' It's such a classic opener. ^_^;;

I believe the word is 'improper.' ^_^
Yes, that's a joke, laugh.
Local dialects do interest me - I really liked 'My Fair Lady' for that reason - and I love hearing different accents. Some people say this accent or that accent gets on their nerves, but I find them fascinating. They make me giggle. Imagine the fun I had when I met that girl from Australia...
Generally, though, I like to be a 'formal' kinda guy, in writing and in speech. This does NOT follow over into my everyday life, necessarily (I speak the same as anyone else, usually) but I'm most interested in the formal standards, even if only to see how those standards are slighted.

Did that make any sense?

the sneezing puking fetish/fear post.
australian tounge is one of my favorites (feel free to take that outta context)
i think i understand, mostly

Just more of the reason I, the anal-retentive English speaker, find you so interesting, miss deth. ^_^

I too tend more toward formality, and am happiest hearing either neutral American accents, the Queen's English, and other "clean"-sounding accents where I can actually understand what's being said (I had the most horrible time the first time I saw "The Interview" - didn't understand half of what was going on until the second time through. ::blushes, grins:: Rather embarassed by that...). Some dialects pique my interest, but most just sound like minor abominations to me. It's really awful...makes me feel like a language snob in a way.

Oddly, though, I'm very different where Japanese is concerned. My favorite dialect is one called Kansai-ben, and, if it were translated into an American accent, would probably come out as, at lightest, a sweet little surfer boy lilt, and at heaviest, a combination of the absolute worst marble-mouthed Dixie drawl you ever heard coupled with a Bronx or Queens NY accent, piled on with more slang than your average incomprehensible rapper slings around. It's considered very uneducated-sounding and its use is rather frowned-upon by speakers of "proper" Tokyo-ben Japanese. And yet...it's my favorite Japanese dialect of them all, and I love listening to it. What an odd juxtaposition.

But anyway, my point is, it's good for me to hear your opinions on language and dialects, etc, because it helps to broaden my horizons.

i appreciate queen's english too, knowing also that it's a mix up of cultures in that too. did you know that some english and irish songs stayed in our culture through bluegrass? amazing how the words and melody are exactly the same it just got accented through generations and adapted to different instuments. that's a wonderful thing about languages, the culture stew.

bit o' background: i don't know the first time i heard aussie, i was raised with bbc, and got really into aussie b-movies as a teenager. i'm just drawn toward that culture, like you with japan?

i wanna hear that kansi-ben now. unfortunatly i don't have any japanese friends. the closest i get is phillipino co-workers and movies.

i've heard some countries get real annoyed at us americans because of our 'improper' english (along with other things of course). i should be more sensitive about such things cause i feel some people mistake me as 'uneducated' because of my spelling and sentence difficulties, you certainly don't make that assumption (sometimes i feel i have to assure them i spent a good deal of my life in school)

yeh, back at ya. you bring out my rants. i sure lucked out on meeting someone so interested in discussing things.

p.s. hello again to the journal host (waving)

I had no idea that English and Irish songs were handed down and became bluegrass! That's so interesting. Geez, you're a regular font of knowledge.

Ooh, one of the two Cave songs I have, "Where the Wild Roses Grow" just came on. Musta known I was writing to you. ::grins::

I'm sure Kansai-ben sounds just the same as proper Japanese to the untrained ear. ^_^ First time I heard it, though, I was like, "Wow, I didn't understand a word of that!" and I'm pretty good at Japanese, so I could hardly believe it was the same language. It's fascinating, the little differences in intonation and words that make it sound totally different. And of course, then there are the differences in thickness of the dialect...it's so multi-layered. Makes me wonder how foreigners who've studied English cope the first time they hear Ebonics (::snort::) or an accent from the Deep South. If you wanna hear Kansai-ben, I could make some sound files or something. It's pretty, even if you can't understand it.

I'm very happy to bring out your rants! I love reading them. Learning about and understanding people thrills me. And I think it should be obvious to anyone who does that any grammatical/spelling errors you may make are in no way indicative of your intellect. I've known some real idiots with impeccable spelling. ::grins and points at self::

::laughs:: Damn, Andrew - have you ever had a third-party conversation on your comments list before? I can't remember having ever seen one.

sorry server is too slow for that *sob*...someday.
it's sorta weird that we're having conversations about accents but can't hear a d#*n thing

More's the pity. I think I'd fly out there to see you just to have the chance to talk face-to-face with you about things. But, as I've said, I'm too curious about human motivation for my own good. ::smiles sheepishly::

mmm...wonder if i still have some sort of accent when people hear me?. you know how easy it is to not notice these things. do you have one?

What do you mean by "still" have an accent? Did you grow up with one?

I think I have what is known as a "neutral" American accent. That's what I've percieved from listening to my own voice and having people tell me how they think I sound. Some guy in a gas station once told me I sound like I'm from Montana, and me and roommate looked at him funny and threatened to beat him with my Slim Jim.

lol, what a jerk... whawha

i spent the first 18yrs of my life on a farm sorta near where mark twain's stories are based (hannibal, missuri) and lincoln's 'hometown' (springfield, il) right on the river. i think i had a bit of a broad accent, cause now that i'm away i notice how much my relatives have them.

every so often a stranger will comment, i guess i say something that sounds widwestern. but i think it's worn off mostly plus when i was a teen i made attempts not to sound 'hick'
you mean 'tv american' when you say neutral right?

::laughs:: Yeah, "TV American" probably says it all.

I just NOW got the LJ-Reply e-mail notification for this comment.
Not only is this notable for how effin' long it's taken it to get here, but also because I've been getting all my other notifications no problem. Including Leslie's reply to THIS post.
Weird.

Ha, I think you're right, I have never had a 3rd Party conversation. And now I've had two, both including you!
I can't say I really mind, though. Firstly, I figure it's my journal, so if I see something interesting, I'll just but in whenever. I should hope anyone posting here would have the same attitude - if you have something to say, say it.
Additionally, I imagine that if it did bother me, I would say something about it or somesuch.
So, yes.. Talk amongst yourselves. ^_^;;

I've always thought it's kinda neat when people talk in my comments list. One guy I know, though, when me and Amanda had a chat in his, got pissed off at us for not being "pertinant" - which I assume means because we weren't talking to him, what we had to say obviously had no bearing on the post. ::rolls eyes:: People...

*Waves*
Hello there. ^_^ How courteous of you.
Yes, I'm still here. It figures the day I get flooded with over 50 comments would be the day I'm brain-fried with a paper. Whee.

yes, join in whenever. i just sat myself down here and got comfy, *looks around* nice place.

^_^
You like what I've done? I was thinking about redoing a few things - moving that over there, for instance, but yeah, generally i'm proud of my work. ^_^

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Communication

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This is an A and B conversation...

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