English is spoken by approximately 309 million people. Mandarin Chinese is the number one spoken language with 873 million who speak it. We, as humans, do seem to have a way of confounding our language with our trendy jargon and peculiar speech nuances. Our kind of present day communication would leave Shakespeare befuddled, I’m sure.
We tend to crucify the King’s English in our modern society with our use or misuse of certain words, along with their innuendos. We all have our own distinct presentation, tone, and voice inflection as we attempt at conveying messages to others. We do tend to waste our breath by using unnecessary words tacked onto our sentences. “If you will,”…means exactly what? If you will let me finish? If you will try to understand me? If you believe me? Some words that we insert in our sentences are unnecessary and have no real definition. What does the word “really” really mean? The word “very” has the same unnecessary connotation. It’s “very” unnecessary…I mean…really?…think about it. We also tend to combine mannerisms in our attempt to communicate. I, however, do think that Shakespeare would have approved of the cool “air quotes” with a cool “thumbs-up!”
We are all artful at manipulating our language to adhere to our own style. When my son was young, he used to walk in the kitchen and say, “What do we have for eat?” It became “our term” in referring to what was being served and available in the refrigerator and pantry to satisfy his eating desires. He is a 1st Lieutenant in the Army now. (what do they have “for eat” in the Army, I wonder??)
I suppose, in our complicated English language, there is, however, one simple sentence that is wholeheartedly understood. (I’m certain Shakespeare would have agreed.) One can never go wrong when using the beautiful words, “I love you.” It carries one a long, long, way to make the heart and soul smile with no room for misinterpretation. If you know what I mean…I mean, you know…really!…if you will!
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