More than Words

A number of my friends become increasingly cautious of their choices of words when they converse with me because they know that at any instant I may pick out on their improperly-used words and amplify it into a massive argument which in their opinion was not even their opinion in the first place thus leading them to ironically blame me for 'twisting their words'.

That is not (entirely) my intention my dear friends. I do this because in one way or another am merely showing you the impact of presentation. It is like presenting a princess in a pumpkin chariot. This is a damned good post about how deep Words can go, you'll like it.

A few of of my friends have learnt the hard way to realize that the selection of words during critical conversations could be the difference between days of pleasure..or years of pain. Furthermore, we live in an era where some people communicate exclusively through instant messaging programs or social networks like I discussed before. The absence of body language (comprising 60% of the message) and intonation (≈10%) therefore leaving the measly 30% deliver your full message. Forget emoticons and the like; they are no more effective than expecting the car which is going to crash into you to read your bumper sticker saying "Don't come to close.. I barely know you.."

In Malaysia unfortunately, the importance of proper words has never been emphasized by our language teachers. (who are more concerned about us correctly selecting D instead of A when subject to vocabulary exams) Our society at large can be somewhat compared to the American way of speaking; choosing to express themselves in a more slapstick manner (i.e. more brash, loud and physically expressive). The British way would be a direct contrast with their subtle and soft uttering of words that (sometimes) even the most attentive rat would not be able to catch.

Thing is, unlike the Americans, us Malaysians actually cultivated this due to the nature of our multilingual society. More often than not, the one with the bery good England can barely utter a phrase in his mother tongue (until and if he finally realizes its importance when he's about 17.. *ahem* speaking from experience here). And so languages becomes like a buffet or more locally speaking, rojak - because we have a 'lil of everything.

Here's a simple test even. Ask 10 random people you know and let them watch an episode of Gilmore Girls or Frasier.(which as far as I've watched are the two most linguistically challenging series. Alright alright, I don't watch many anyway.. *pbft)

But I ponder whether this case is for better or for worse. I mean like I've mentioned, a powerful vocabulary would improve your ability to present the even the hardest case effectively. But then again, what's the point if the other guy is a Chinese businessman who converses in Hokkien half the time and is only fluent in Manglish?

Wa be hiau kong Hokkien oh.. 0_o"