About this time last year, I learned from my anglophile friend that in England, putting up your middle finger to somebody isn't particularly offensive. Instead, it's the peace sign, only backwards, so the outside of your hand is facing the person you're gesturing at. I, of course, had no idea of this at the time, and was surprised to hear that something as innocent and simple as turning your number two around could be so offensive to the people around you. I also hoped that no foreign team in the upcoming Olympics accidentally did it to the camera when they won second place.
As it turns out, so much of what we know here and today as offensive is totally different in other parts of the world, and the simple thing that we do are a shock to them. Making rude noises at the table might be a sign of gratitude in some countries, while in some languages, such as French, it can be perfectly acceptable to swear all the time, no matter where you are. A Brazilian exchange student I know slightly puts swear words totally out of context and distributes them sporadically throughout his language, but in Portuguese, apparently that's just the way it is.
I was thinking about this today, as I was listening to all of the dirty jokes and hushed profanity that was whirling around me at school, mostly in the sixth grade wing, where it's most common. And I started to wonder. What makes these words so bad that nobody can utter them without getting in trouble? Since when are simple letters put together so dangerous, and how did they get so much emotion implanted in them? The thing is, I'm sure that if we lived in a world where everybody just made up words all the time, we wouldn't have this problem. Once a word is given a definition, no matter how "bad" it seems, it builds up meaning as the years go by, like an organisms picking up parasites, or a rag collecting dust. The meaning will probably even change over time, and maybe go in and out of fashion, like clothes or entertainment sources.
These little secrets of different cultures, that are so hushed that nobody will tell you about them, are like the keys to unlocking the basic code of the world. One might visit another country paralyzed with fear, wondering what little movement could be considered offensive, or what is expected from guests. There are simple forms of etiquette that you need for other cultures, like wiping your feet or kissing in greeting, but then there are those crucial matters that you won't find anywhere, because it's so darn profane in that country. So how are we supposed to understand each other, and cooperate? Why must our societies be so different, and isolated from one another?
I've gotten much better at British slang and terminology (and have caught the anglophile fever myself), but there are still things in British media that I will see and have no idea what they heck it means. I'm careful not to stereotype, since it's definitely not true that all Americans follow the same rules and characteristics, but the idea that we're speaking a totally different language-even though it's the same dictionary-is mind boggling. If the Phoenicians had known what was going to happen to these basic letters and sounds when they put them together, they would have been shocked. But I guess that's society for you; always moving forward, at a greater speed than we would like, limiting what we do but writing out the basic code of culture for us. At least we're unique.
No comments:
Post a Comment