Thursday, July 24, 2008
SAY WHAT?
I was thinking about languages today.
When you consider that the Oxford dictionary people add new words to our vocabulary pretty much every damn day, you realize that English is and probably will always be a very living and effective language.
But all of the yammering uttered by all of the people who've walked this planet at one time or another had to have started with grunting.
I like to think it was started by four guys: Nounman, Verbman, Adjectiveman and their weird friend from another cave, Adverbman, who was pretty anal.
So they're sitting around one night, when lightning ignites a tree. They've never seen fire before, but they get the idea that it's warm. They bring it to a pile of sticks to keep it going. They're all sitting around getting warm, except for Adjectiveman, who was late to the party.
Adjectiveman looks confused. He motions, "what the hell is that?" Nounman motions to him to get closer to it and stick his hands out. (Nounman is a hopeless practical joker.) Adjectiveman does so. He stretches his arms toward the fire. He reacts positively!
He grunts: "Haaaaaaaaaaaahhhh"
Just then, through mid- haaaa, Nounman kicks Adjectiveman in the butt, sending him tumbling into the fire. So Adjectiveman invents the first word:
HaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHT! HAAHT HAAHT HAAAHT! HOT! HOT!
At this point, Adjectiveman dusts himself off, points at Nounman,then points at Nounman's mother, then makes sex motions, since there are no nouns or verbs yet. And they all have a good laugh.
Before long, "Hot" is the new grunt. Nobody just wants to "ugh" anymore; it's hot hot hot all the time. So they add noises to the end of hot to differentiate different levels of hot! Hot-ah. Hotcha. Hotdog.
And they are off to the races.
That's what makes English so interesting. Think of words from the 40s, 50s and 60s that we don't use anymore. When's the last time you said "Groovy," unless you were singing a song from the 60s that had that word in it? I remember once hearing the phrase, "Solid, Jackson!' and having to ask my mother what the guy was talking about.
Hopefully, we won't bomb ourselves into oblivion, but if we do, and the entire CONCEPT of language has to be rethought, I'd like to propose the first word of the new World Language:
Meshugenah.
------
Just a reminder: ROMANTASY CABARET RETURNS TO THE SETS THIS SATURDAY. MUSIC! SKITS! (Including one skit featuring me and my beautiful wife Janice! We made it up and everything and people at rehearsal last weekend were falling on the floor laughing, so we guess it's good!) Dancers! Nakeder dancers! Nuder than Nakeder dancers -- you know, Burlesque!
And: The return of BLIND KUMQUAT HOROWITZ!
This show always sells out. Get tickets now at www.trashcityentertainment.com
The SETS is at Southern and Mill on the SE corner in the SE corner of the strip mall.
TT
I was thinking about languages today.
When you consider that the Oxford dictionary people add new words to our vocabulary pretty much every damn day, you realize that English is and probably will always be a very living and effective language.
But all of the yammering uttered by all of the people who've walked this planet at one time or another had to have started with grunting.
I like to think it was started by four guys: Nounman, Verbman, Adjectiveman and their weird friend from another cave, Adverbman, who was pretty anal.
So they're sitting around one night, when lightning ignites a tree. They've never seen fire before, but they get the idea that it's warm. They bring it to a pile of sticks to keep it going. They're all sitting around getting warm, except for Adjectiveman, who was late to the party.
Adjectiveman looks confused. He motions, "what the hell is that?" Nounman motions to him to get closer to it and stick his hands out. (Nounman is a hopeless practical joker.) Adjectiveman does so. He stretches his arms toward the fire. He reacts positively!
He grunts: "Haaaaaaaaaaaahhhh"
Just then, through mid- haaaa, Nounman kicks Adjectiveman in the butt, sending him tumbling into the fire. So Adjectiveman invents the first word:
HaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHT! HAAHT HAAHT HAAAHT! HOT! HOT!
At this point, Adjectiveman dusts himself off, points at Nounman,then points at Nounman's mother, then makes sex motions, since there are no nouns or verbs yet. And they all have a good laugh.
Before long, "Hot" is the new grunt. Nobody just wants to "ugh" anymore; it's hot hot hot all the time. So they add noises to the end of hot to differentiate different levels of hot! Hot-ah. Hotcha. Hotdog.
And they are off to the races.
That's what makes English so interesting. Think of words from the 40s, 50s and 60s that we don't use anymore. When's the last time you said "Groovy," unless you were singing a song from the 60s that had that word in it? I remember once hearing the phrase, "Solid, Jackson!' and having to ask my mother what the guy was talking about.
Hopefully, we won't bomb ourselves into oblivion, but if we do, and the entire CONCEPT of language has to be rethought, I'd like to propose the first word of the new World Language:
Meshugenah.
------
Just a reminder: ROMANTASY CABARET RETURNS TO THE SETS THIS SATURDAY. MUSIC! SKITS! (Including one skit featuring me and my beautiful wife Janice! We made it up and everything and people at rehearsal last weekend were falling on the floor laughing, so we guess it's good!) Dancers! Nakeder dancers! Nuder than Nakeder dancers -- you know, Burlesque!
And: The return of BLIND KUMQUAT HOROWITZ!
This show always sells out. Get tickets now at www.trashcityentertainment.com
The SETS is at Southern and Mill on the SE corner in the SE corner of the strip mall.
TT
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