Rose Colored
(Written November 2008)
During the month or so of my senior year of high school when I was thinking that I'd maybe like to go to a bigger public university instead of the small private one I'd been set on since I was a sophomore, one of the main reasons I wavered was that UCSB offered a degree in linguistics. Words, meanings, how different cultures use language... all of that has always been fascinating to me.
I think it's so interesting when you're talking to someone from another country and as certain idioms or terms come up the conversation must pause since they need to be explained. There are so many roads that language can take, different ways to arrive at the same thing, and idioms are fun since they sort of take a shortcut to get to meaning. I find it intriguing to pick the words to explain what such phrases mean, and doing so can make you more aware of what you're actually trying to communicate.
See the world through rose-colored glasses.
They wear the pants in that relationship.
Wear your heart on your sleeve.
I smiled to myself when discussing those phrases yesterday. They aren't the kind of things you really have to think about, and it's fun to have that rare reason to.
And then there's also the times when your foreign friend knows why a certain word or phrase is used and what it's cultural meaning is, and finds it hilarious because of it's literal meaning.
Like, douchebag.
Or cougar.
But sometimes, when words take a direct and obvious path and no cultural difference can confuse the meaning... that's when things can get the most interesting of all.
Like, "So do I get to see you again?"
Very interesting indeed.
During the month or so of my senior year of high school when I was thinking that I'd maybe like to go to a bigger public university instead of the small private one I'd been set on since I was a sophomore, one of the main reasons I wavered was that UCSB offered a degree in linguistics. Words, meanings, how different cultures use language... all of that has always been fascinating to me.
I think it's so interesting when you're talking to someone from another country and as certain idioms or terms come up the conversation must pause since they need to be explained. There are so many roads that language can take, different ways to arrive at the same thing, and idioms are fun since they sort of take a shortcut to get to meaning. I find it intriguing to pick the words to explain what such phrases mean, and doing so can make you more aware of what you're actually trying to communicate.
See the world through rose-colored glasses.
They wear the pants in that relationship.
Wear your heart on your sleeve.
I smiled to myself when discussing those phrases yesterday. They aren't the kind of things you really have to think about, and it's fun to have that rare reason to.
And then there's also the times when your foreign friend knows why a certain word or phrase is used and what it's cultural meaning is, and finds it hilarious because of it's literal meaning.
Like, douchebag.
Or cougar.
But sometimes, when words take a direct and obvious path and no cultural difference can confuse the meaning... that's when things can get the most interesting of all.
Like, "So do I get to see you again?"
Very interesting indeed.
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