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The Citizen, 2005-11-03, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2005 PAGE 5 Other Views The wonderful world of words Words are. of course, the most powerful drug used hv mankind s- Kipling ordsmiths - auteurs, literati, journalists, diarists and simple hacks like myself - are like Klondike miners. Every working day we roll up our sleeves, squat on our haunches and jam our metaphorical gold pans into the alluvial stream bed of our language. Klondikers dreamed of fat gold nuggets. We writers hope to sift through the dross and find - one day —the perfect word or phrase winking back at us in the sunlight. Lc mot juste, as the French call it. But one can say many things better in French than in English. For instance, that moment when you think of the clever retort you should have made to the jerk who embarrassed you at the party only now it's too late? Took me 27 words to explain that in English. French does it in four (two. really): Tesprit d'escalier' - the thought which occurs to you while climbing the stairs to bed. But the French don’t own a lock on linguistic precision. Even German, often considered a cumbersome tongue, can be deft. What do we Anglos call a person who leaves without paying a bill? We call him. er...a person who leaves without paying his bill. Germans have a single word for it - zechpreller. If the contemplation of verbal vagaries tickles your cerebral cortex, run to your nearest bookstore and order a copy of The Meaning of Tingo by Adam Jacot de Boinod. Monsieur Jacot de Boinod has scoured the vocabularies of hundreds of languages from Sanskrit to Samoan - and he’s served up a Courtesy stops in the legislature Ontario’s Progressive Conservative opposition leader John Tory has been trying to get politicians to be more polite to each other, but he seems to have lost his enthusiasm. Tory was chosen leader a year ago and made it a major theme that members of the legislature should avoid inflammatory language. He said this would make debates more informative, allow more work to be done and help create more respect for politicians. The legislature reached its low point in behaviour a few years ago. although Tory did not mention it. when a Conservative premier. Mike Harris, call a Liberal an “asshole.” Tory helped reduce rancor for a while by giving more support to legislation introduced by the Liberals under Premier Dalton McGuinty than opposition parties normally give a government. The upper crust Conservative leader also tended to couch his disagreements in unusually mild terms such as “for goodness’s sake” and “what the dickens is going on.” which probably came naturally. No-one would be surprised if Tory began a remonstrance with McGuinty by. “I say. old chap” or told him an action was “not cricket.” But the inflammatory rhetoric never quite left and is getting the upper hand fast. Tory said he was “shocked and disturbed" McGuinty did not call Prime Minister Paul Martin sooner to discuss appalling conditions among northern Indians. lory hit hard saying McGuinty “abdicated leadership when lives were threatened" and dodges responsibilities so he "drives people crazy." lorv said there was no reason residents should believe evtn one word ol the Liberals’ Arthur Black treasure trove of linguistic nuggets. That utterly pointless gesture where we scratch our head as we 11} to remember something we've forgotten? Pana po'o in Hawaiian. That realization that the woman who looked drop-dead gorgeous from behind is actuall\ drop-dead Gorgon when you see her face-lo face? Bakku-shan in Japanese That unseemly scramble among press photographers and TV cameramen to gel a better vantage point ai media events? I'he Chinese call it Qiang jinglou. The uncontrollable habit of saying the most inappropriate thing at the most inappropriate time? We call it foot-in-mouth disease in English. Indonesians are more precise. The} call it Latah. Some languages have words and phrases for situations you can't even imagine arising. Nakur is a Persian word which refers to a camel that won't give milk until her nostrils are tickled. Kualanapuhi is what Hawaitans call the poor sod whose job it is to keep flies off his sleeping king by waving a feather whisk. We’d just say Dick Cheney. And the meaning of The Meaning of Tingo? Tingo is from Pascuense. the language of Easter Island. It means to borrow things from Eric Dowd From Queens Park throne speech, because they have done hardly anything they said they would do. which has to be an exaggeration. Tory said the Liberals are "shameful" in piling up debt, although he would know the preceding Conservative government aided to that by claiming falsely it had balanced the books. Tory called the Liberal government incompetent, untrustworthy and run by “propaganda artists." He issued a list of its "top 10 broken promises,” but expanded this to 50. many highly debatable. Tory said McGuinty “passed the buck” when he said there is an arrangement where municipalities have plans to dispose of garbage if the United States closes its border, as threatened. Tory said the premier has ignored gun violence in Toronto that has cost lives and that he has proven time and time again he is incapable of being straight with working families. Tory said McGuinty has made "government scandals” the locus ol Ontario politics, although the Liberals arc no worse than predecessors. The potentially most serious, which forced Greg Sorbara to step down as finance minister because police arc investigating an allegation he committed fraud a friend's house, one b\ one. until theie is nothing lelt On the olhci hand, some languages have words that cr\ out to be adopted, if onl\ lor their beauty. Say aloud the word that natives ol lulu. India use to describe the sound ol a pitcher filling with water: Gulugulu. Or the Indonesian word for the sound a doorbell makes: bling nong. And how has our nation of Bob and Doug McKenzies managed to stay alloal this long w ithoul the Danish word ollrvgt ’ It means fear arising from a lack ol beer. So let s just adopt it I’he beauty ol the English language is that when wc Anglophiles see a better word in another language wc don't moan with envv - we just steal it. Look al Canada. Hall the country's towns and cities, lakes and rivers have names swiped from First Nations tongues. My favourite example of lexicographical theft is neither Canadian, nor German nor Danish. It is Latin bv way of British. The story goes that General Charles Napier was commander of British troops fighting in India in the middle of the 19th Century. Fighting under a handicap. He was expected to defeat his Indian foes in battle, but because of complicated politics he was under no circumstances to capture the capital of Hyderabad - the city of Sind. Against orders. Napier and his troops took possession of the capital. He explained his lailure/triumph in a one-word telegram to his superiors. It read: PECCAVI. Thai's Latin for I have sinned. True story? Probably not - but a great one. while a company director, has yet to be proven. Tory said McGuinty lacked integrity because he refused to drop Sorbara from cabinet more than a year ago. when police said they were investigating his company. Tory charged McGuinty was slow to react because, despite new rumours police were investigating Sorbara personally, it took the. premier five hours to announce his resignation from cabinet and replacement. Tory claimed McGuinty has plunged Ontario into "a crisis of confidence”, and raised voters' cynicism to an all-time high. Tory, who quit as chief executive of a major company to enter politics full-time, said if McGuinty was a CEO. he would be fired. Other Conservatives have not looked for polite words. Bob Runciman said the Liberals are “phony” and soft on crime. Runciman said McGuinty has broken so many promises residents think of him as a four-letter word he could not repeat in the legislature, where MPPs are barred from calling each other a liar. The only MPP tossed out of the legislature recently, for in effect saying the government lied, was a Conservative, Gerry Martiniuk. Another Conservative. Jim Wilson, said there is "very little honour left in this place.” Tory and his Conservatives seem to have given up their quest for more polite language. It may be because they have found it does not attract an audience. Final Thought I led that the greatest reward for doing is the opportunity to do more. ' i - Jonas Salk Bonnie Gropp The short of it Back in Kansas The checrlulness ol the autumn sun was obscured by blocks ol bricks and columns ol concrete. Yet. heZappcared happy, his gap-toothed grii beaming out to all who passed him by. His tattered coal spoke ol belter days. Ins matted hair was lucked behind his ears. Anil sticking out Irom those ears (yes. Iromj were two cigarettes, one small and lit. the other, one can assume, ready to go. Barely time to recover from that when into the picture moves an androgynous horror show. Sporting knee-high Doc Martens and a trench coat the towering giant of a man with Bride of Frankenstein hair and a smile creep} enough to chill the blood of Charles Manson, plodded purposefully, staring into the distance as if he’d spied a naked Vampira down the street. Just another Halloween, you assume? No downtown Toronto on a Saturday afternoon. I was definitely not in Kansas anymore. We all know that the world around us is vast and incredibly diverse. Yet, living in a rural area can be an insular existence. It’s important, therefore, to experience things outside this quiet country corner. I tried to encourage that in my children and provide what opportunities 1 could to show them things that weren't available to them here. Today they are all relatively comfortable in most situations and venues, but one more so than the rest. Always game to try something new. she has now decided after several years in the GTA it’s time for something different and this past weekend left for Winnipeg. It was this then that brought me to TO on an otherwise pleasant autLmn Saturday. Accompanied as well by her big sister, who ol all my kids is the least thrilled by the weird and wacky, we headed right into it as we kept a dale with Greyhound. The bus depot itself is not as frightening as some I’ve been to. (If you don’t know what I mean, visit the one in Kitchener, though I don't recommend going alone or after dark). One might even say Toronto’s depot has a certain charm, with pigeons strutting through it as unconcernedly as the patrons. However, it can be challenging for the traveller, particularly when they have seven huge (did I say HUGE?) boxes to lug and check. But wc managed and even had time to spare to enjoy lunch together before saying farewell. Heading down the street to find a restaurant, our senses were assaulted most often not by the mundane but the insane. Fighting a tidal wave of bodies surging forth, we followed the pace that was set. We crushed our way through a crowd blocking the sidewalk to watch a street magician. As young bohemians and successful cosmopolitans moved past us. on our right sat a homeless man. black cap extended for hand­ outs. his face one of unexpectation, ol deprivation and despair. A group of protesters screamed “Free Palestine" while on the next street, a man with bristol board placards bearing nonsensical messages, spewed forth equally incomprehensible words. At the corner religious fanatics proffered their propaganda. And then it was time for (he bus to leave. The only thing that made the sadness at seeing my daughter off lessen, was knowing that this experience would soon be over. Seeing beyond our back yard is important to keeping an open mind. But let me tell you it was awfully good to get back to Kansas.