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The Skill/Art of Language

In language pretty much everybody who is a native speaker within a given language uses a mix of different usages of the language spectrum. About 80-90% of language falls within the A or B levels.

The problem is often times the elite, formal, and advanced levels of C language. This kind of language usage brings with it a variety of mental illnesses that take all shapes and forms. In short the world of nuance, innuendo, and analyzing the deeper meaning behind words is the world of college and elite professionals.

Language is infinite in the way that it can be organized and arranged together. Similar to the worlds of music, art, religion, psychology, or science there is an infinite number of ways words can be arranged together in a sentence, paragraph, essay, or in an spoken argument or conversation. The only limitations to our use of language is ourselves and lack of creativity.

The chart in some ways is elitist, but it also “Looks Down” on the elites in society, locationally that is on the chart. One of the problems I have is that my future success is dependent on one day people picking up on my usage of nuance and rhetoric. When you view language as what it is and nothing more, at its essence the written word is nothing but shapes and lines passed down from the Ancient Romans that are drawn independently to form something we call LETTERS and that words are nothing more then just letters being grouped together in recognizable patterns. It can lead to some complicated and ridiculous usages, as we currently see/read/hear in our politics in our present day.

For example: A reasonable normal person would say that the USA has no positive association with Hitler or the Swastika that a politically correct person would agree with. That is an unreasonable jump of insanity for normal people.

However, I learned something today that made me think of an insane argument that I don’t necessarily agree with but it is a useful argument to write because it is an example of C-1 or C-2 level of obscurity and elitism.

I learned today from the US Naval Institute on Facebook, that Adolf Hitler had a nephew who was an American, William Patrick Hitler. He was born in Liverpool England, and later moved to New York in 1939. In 1944 after being rejected from the US Navy he was finally accepted as a seaman after he wrote a letter to President FDR. He served in WWII to fight against the Nazis and his uncle. After the war he changed his name to William Patrick Stuart Houston, got married and had children and lived a quiet normal American life until he died in 1987.

This represents an idea that is core to the United States of America which is that the USA does not hold people back based on the sins and deeds of their family. It is against our civil rights to do so, in the United States of America we allow people to reinvent themselves, change, and redeem themselves.

The US military during this time ironically sent Hitler’s nephew to fight the Nazis, but did not allow Charles Lindbergh to fight against Germany, even though he did fly missions against Japan. Charles Lindbergh was one of the more popular Americans during this time, and even though he was sympathetic to Adolf Hitler, he was still allowed to serve his country and fight against a common enemy. This shows that a core American value of putting politics aside during a time of war, and doing what is right regardless of one's politics and opinions, this is just one of the many things what the USA stands for.

The swastika itself has an interesting history, in many ways it is an example of cultural appropriation on the part of Hitler and the Nazis. The symbol of hate and division and white supremacy was once a symbol of Native American pride in the Southwest of the USA. In the late 1900’s and early 20th century cars were becoming more popular, and part of the all American road trip is stopping at shops, gas stations, diners along the way. One hallmark of the time was to bring back a memory or souvenir of a trip, and often times bringing back something that was Native American was considered acceptable. The Native Americans of the Southwest were encouraged by local businesses to add their symbol to blankets, pouches, and all sorts of things that tourists would enjoy taking home.

Albuquerque New Mexico features the KiMo theater and the swastika, it is for the Native Americans of the area a symbol of peace, life, and prosperity. All values and emotions that people have come to the USA for a very long time.

Back to B level usage of English

What you just read was a nuanced essay that uses obscure historical examples, that is about Hitler, nazis, native Americans, and the swastika, but doesn’t include the word genocide, and has an attempt at being a positive story about the USA and its history.

But at the end of the day it’s a story about the surname Hitler and swastikas, and leaving out genocide, which to some can also be an example of holocaust denial. For the record Adolf Hitler is responsible for killing 6 million Jews, and over 400 years or so the Native American population was reduced by 90% which are estimates in the tens of millions of people who died after the Europeans arrived in the late 1400’s.

A good example of how the use of language can change over time is by charting the number of times a certain word appears during a legislative session.  This gives an insight into how society is changing.  I used my home state of California and their public website Leginfo.ca.gov and used their basic keyword search and created an excel spreadsheet.  

The issue of transgenderism has become far more prevalent over the last 15 years and much more over the last 10 years or so.  Most everything in politics and language is on some kind of spectrum and pendulum.  When society goes too far in one direction there's usually a correction that takes place to bring it back towards the center. 

Language is somewhat similar, people may be vulgar, irritating, appear to be simplistic, but they usually grow out of it and approach a normal level of English usage which is about an 7th to 9th grade level.  Others may be stuck in a college level environment for several years and many more years continue to use "advanced" English, but usually they also return back down to normal levels because that's where the best communication and most quantity communication happens between adults. 

For example; "Woke" is a word that crosses the entire spectrum of English usage currently and recently.  The term itself originated in African American English, and was simply meant as a compliment, and for many years it was used without anyone really knowing or caring too much about the word. 

Then, college professors and the media began to use the word to represent a set of social programs, ideas and beliefs.  So the term began to take on an identity all on its own, it no longer was acceptable to just be "politically correct" you also had to be "woke". 

From there it moved on into the media, and began being hated by other people who sort of took it as an insult, as if they were being talked down to by intellectuals simply because they didn't know what the word was or care to know what the word was. 

The rest as they say is history. 

But honestly, what really is that offensive from a W being next to an OK and a silent E.  It's OK for people to enjoy Winning and Eating. 

That's an example of reframing, which can be a useful rhetorical ace to have up your sleeve and use every now and again.  

As you can see the "Woke" years which also happen to be the Trump years mostly began in 2017.  There is a noticeable spike in the usage of these words being introduced as potential laws after the 2016 election. 

And with these changes also has changes with the norms of society, language, identity, psychology, and all the other courses in college.  These changes are often nuanced and specific. 

But remember, that's not where the people are at, to effectively communicate with people its best to keep things complicated but clear, informed but not professorial, basically it's intelligent to have good manners and use them. 

I found this video online from a p.h.d linguist, which I am clearly not one. But I do think this provides some useful information to people who might be interested in this blogpost.   And he ends it with a reference to one of my all time favorite movies, Bill and Ted.

Pronouns as a topic of language and policy, society, law have become problematic, but there really isn't anything that is going on that can't be solved with some basic good old fashioned manners. 

Gossip is sort of the sin that is problematic, gossip is something that is beyond our control as individuals.  We do not possess some kind of magical power to control what other people may say about us when we are not there. Even though we may want to clarify something, have the gossip more line up with how we view ourselves, or what have you.  

One thing I learned in politics is that gossip can be good, nobody ever gets elected to any office without some kind of good gossip going on about them from complete strangers.  It also can be destructive, mean spirited, angry, hurtful, and a terrible secret force that hurts our individual ability to advance in the world. 

Good manners is not really gossiping that much about someone, or when you talk about someone you do so in such a way that is good and beneficial to the person you are talking about.  

Good manners is also understanding the point of view of the person you are talking to, if the person you are talking to has a certain kind of politics in which you know they would cringe or feel discomfort if you refer to someone not there as a "Them" or a "They' then you should alter what the non existent person in the conversation requests to be recognized as, and instead use a pronoun that is more common to the person you are talking to. 

Gender is also sociologically/psychologically a set of behaviors and routines defined by a set of chores and roles people do.  Which makes it a cognitive behavioral sort of situation more or less associated with habits, along with a linguistic one.  For example, I as a man, was a caregiver to my father while he was in hospice before he passed last year, I also do most of the shopping, cooking, and cleaning, and I also have enjoyed gardening my entire life.  These behaviors and roles, are ones I have done in part because there was no wife around, and no mother, but these roles are traditionally done by a female.  In some respects when other people gossip about me, it is uncomfortable for them to refer to me as the way I view myself, a heterosexual male.  It is more comfortable of them to think of the behaviors and things I do using a she pronoun. 

There have been instances in my life where females/moms/men have used the she/her pronoun when referring to me. 

In some ways this situation was super annoying and irritating. 

However, every American has the freedom of speech, and who am I as an American to tell another American how to talk or what they can or can not say. 

And as a catholic, given how bonkers everything the last decade or so has been, it's easy for me to forgive people for their past mistakes.  I've said the Lord's Prayer enough times to remember the phrase "Forgive those who trespass against us" 

The short of it is this. 

It's bad manners to try to change someone else's habits for your own personal feelings.  

It's also bad manners to define someone else. 

And as far as the suicidal ideation or problem associated with this issue, everybody needs to take mental illness and mental health far more seriously.  

Life is a wonderful, grand, amazing adventure, the world is such a big place full of unbelievable scenes and landscapes and even better people.  Having perspective, and realizing that life is bigger than just the pronouns other people use when talking about you, is also having good mental health. 

Being suicidal because other people's words hurt.... probably means there are bigger problems than gender going on in one's psychology.  

Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words can't hurt me. 

Is something that my father grew up saying as a kid, it's a boomer thing. 

nowadays, people sort of don't go outside or play with sticks and stones out of fear of getting broken bones, and words are violence and are destructive and hurtful. 

I'm not sure if that's a healthy direction to continue going in.