So if you're a big fan of David's, I'm sure you're thrilled that he's here. You can look him up online, just type in David Peterson and Game of Thrones and boom, you can learn about him. But today we're going to just dig in to how we form Language now in 2023, of course, it's helpful to look back, so we're going to do that. But let's just move forward here
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 0:06
And as promised, here's that image of language that's been infused with violent images
You could look at it as a violent language, sure, but that's only one interpretation and not a bad idea. I don't think that there's anything negative or quote unquote violent there. And to offer the options that are listed as alternatives, I think are stripped down, reductive in some ways and losing the complexity and nuance of the phrases on the left
Arya Sunyata
@theheartdrive · 2:52
I am a big language nerd. I've studied linguistics formally, but I also just am kind of immersed in everything language. So looking forward to hearing what comes next
David Peterson
@dedalvs · 4:52
But this is a book I recommend because it's short. You don't need a background in linguistics to understand it. It's very comprehensible. It's very 70s when you read it. So read it with a grain of salt. Can you read something with a grain of salt? I don't know. Anyway, you can take it with one. But George Lake Off and Mark Johnson explained that the nature of metaphor is far more pervasive than we would ordinarily believe
David Peterson
@dedalvs · 4:57
And a lot of people, both people my age, but also people older, were beginning to reflect on what exactly their relationship was to homosexuality and homosexual people that they've known. They started to examine some of the things that they had said and done in their past life and were like, you know what? This wasn't necessarily a good thing. We thought of it as just whatever, but really it wasn't
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 1:52
And I want to ask you because you brought that up, and the love of taking us into a realm that's not our normal realm. I think that it would be wonderful for people to use the tool of getting out of expectation to see things in a different way. I know that sometimes you take drawing classes
Arya Sunyata
@theheartdrive · 4:58
For example, in English we think about somebody, in Spanish we think in somebody, and in Italian we might think to somebody. So even the way we frame actions and how those actions take place kind of referring back to your point around emotions and containers, right? This is very interesting in terms of the cultural landscape that every language exists within. And I like Deborah's question about whether language is living or dying, because it's a really great question in the way I've understood language
Aayan B
@aayanisms · 4:54
You don't want that either. So you don't want extreme, you don't want mediumistic. What do you want and how do you articulate that? What objective do you use to define excellence? So we have had extreme sales workshop killer contests blown in h*** or nail it. And everything is very aggressive and violent. And I often have questioned, at least in my environment, that can we not have something very simple? May the best person win. Something like that
Binati Sheth
@Binati_Sheth · 5:00
Or I would say breathing life into the process of communication, right? And a lot of it has to do with context, a lot of it has to do with comprehension because context is going to give, I would say, the meaning or the meanings to the word, right? In Japanese, for instance, there are so many words with multiple meanings. I say AME, it could be rain or candy, but the way you say AME will determine the meaning. AME. AME
Binati Sheth
@Binati_Sheth · 2:58
The different accents, whether it's the one you hear in Usaka not just the accents, the world choice, I would say around Usaka, around someone who's grown up and currently lives in Tokyo. And it's fascinating how the same language kind of changes delivery, right, based on, I would say, the historic predominant situation, trade, et cetera, of the people involved. This is fascinating. Thank you so much for this
Binati Sheth
@Binati_Sheth · 3:45
Because at least people would just go get this done, or something passive aggressive like as per our last meeting or call, I told you this, so you need it's still pretty direct. But Japanese corporates are like, hold my sake. It took me such a long time to adjust because I am used to writing direct emails, right? And that is absolutely seen as rude behavior. So look into it and bask in the glory. That is direct emails from Indian corporates. Yes
Arya Sunyata
@theheartdrive · 2:15
And if you get somebody from India speaking English and you get somebody from South Africa, they're going to have completely different expressions in the same language because of the regions that they live in and because of the influence of all of the ethnic languages around them. So, yes, it's very interesting. And I like your point about the various layers of semantics that exist, from the literal meanings of words to the metaphors that are used, as well as the deeper philosophical words
David Peterson
@dedalvs · 5:00
Every single time they release a new book, they're saying things in ways that have never been said before and for different reasons. So, for example, one of the ones I like to come back to is Samuel Beckett's novels as part of a trilogy called Know How on. He has this novel called Worst Word Hope that makes absolutely no sense when you read it, or at least at the outset of it. Here's an example of it. Safe or be said, miss said from now
David Peterson
@dedalvs · 4:10
It's so hilarious. And I really hilarious at the same time that who knows, maybe it has a chance of succeeding. But anyway, that's two different ways you can approach it. If you see language that you don't like being used in the general realm sorry, I'm losing it myself. I've had one of those days where I had a nap and I woke up and the world was suddenly different
David Peterson
@dedalvs · 4:55
I'm trying to look at the history of the language, figure out what cultural trends would have been prominent in what eras, what kind of expressions would have been born in those areas, which ones would have been carried on. But at the same time, even though you're creating expressions for things that would have been popular within that culture, within that subculture, it's still everybody's language
Binati Sheth
@Binati_Sheth · 5:00
Because I couldn't process how a language could be like this one thing or this one label because language is such a broad word. Even if we take individual languages like say English or Hindi or Gujarati or all of these different languages that exist in the world. And to say that our language is one thing, it is always, I would say, rubbed me the wrong way
Binati Sheth
@Binati_Sheth · 5:00
Onto some extra thoughts for what you said to Deborah. How we choose to express ourselves. It does give us a way, doesn't it? Because in literature, we have subtext. A skilled author will weave in a subtext within the narrative. And every single time I've read a Jane Austin I'm like, I feel the classicism radiating through the whole thing without her actually actively commentating on it because it's woven into it, into the overall plot