Posted by PS on January 05, 2006 at 13:11:32:
In Reply to: Re: muppets hospice posted by cav on January 05, 2006 at 07:47:47:
: Language fascinates me. It says so much about the speaker and we're mostly not cognizant of how we speak. Have you noticed how we can change our style of speaking depending on the listener, but often we don't recognize a conscious choice to do it? I notice it all the time at work. With younger hipper people I talk more slangy, and with others I talk more formally, sometimes I find myself using colloquialisms that I know they'll understand, but I hadn't noticed how I know which way to speak. It has to be verbal and visual cues like accent and body language.
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I have thought about it a lot. I think I have always changed the way I communicate according to situations. Interestingly, at USF I do it much LESS than ever before. Because I am an instructor, I have to strive for the ultimate precision in communication, using the most meaningful language the student is able to understand, and defining every term which may be problematic.
Outside of USF, needless to say, some people would find this precision tedious, and others would not even recognize the care to be precise, except to think, "that boy be talkin funny."
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: I've also noticed that ability to understand is largely based on our expectations. I noticed this in Japan and again recently with our guests. Some people refuse to be able to understand you even though others in the same group will. I think it has to do with perceptions. Some people think I shouldn't be understood so to them I'm not understandable. But others will be pleasantly surprised or relieved to see that we can communicate. I used to chat with some kids and teachers all the time and others would be shocked that it was possible. I could order perfectly in restaurants to the relief of a waiter who thought we were going to be trouble, but then if I was with a Japanese person, nothing I said would be comprehensible to the waiter.
: I would suppose that is the case for immigrants and visitors to this country too. Anyone have a similar experience?
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Sure--this is a common phenomenon. Too often what is informing our lack of "expectations" is an unwillingness to understand the other--a fear of that which is alien to us and may challenge our sacred reality.
Let me take this to the next level. The ultimate use of language is in the creation of symbolic worlds in which to dwell. These worlds affect how we interpet reality, the world, God, ourselves, everything. The failure (unwillingness) to pass over into the symbolic worlds of the stranger is to completely misunderstand them at the highest level. The willingness and commitment to pass over into other symbolic worlds is the beginning of wisdom, and opens one to new revelations of the Holy (wholly) other and the possibility of self-transcendence and new horizons. God reveals Himself through the stranger; God is the ultimate stranger. This is why hospitality to the stranger is one of the highest virtues in true holiness. To know God, we must embrace the stranger. More than that, we must become the stranger, alienated even to our own traditions, to transcend our dualistic sacred order and truly encounter the Holy.