What's In A Word?

Have you ever noticed it when your whole conversation seems to be one long string of clichés?   Language can be an interesting study whether you are learning a new language or dissecting your native tongue.  Even when I sit in meetings I hear a lot of jargon, buzz words, business clichés and while I sit silent and merely take notes I wonder if anyone knows what is being decided.  Sitting on the train I hear snippets of conversation; whether conversation between passengers (rare but it does happen) or on a cellphone chat but a lot of what I hear is “yeah, yeah, yeah” or other nod words.

       Now I am studying Spanish and I am amazed at how many meanings one word has.  They tell us that Spanish is one of the simplest languages to learn but that is deceiving in my opinion.  Just learning the alphabet is complicated because the letters are pronounced quite differently depending on the rest of the word.  Perhaps I am too used to English to see that it is equally complex just in the alphabet but somehow, I don’t think so. 

       So picture this, we have a room of perhaps 20 people made up of 5 Koreans, 4 Danes, 3 Venezuelans and 8 Canadians.  Talking about money.  How do you think that conversation is going to go?  The nuances of 4 very different languages can produce some very interesting results even at the most basic level.  Is it any wonder we have wars?

       I think politicians should be required to study languages, not least of all their own.