Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Iktsuarpok. [its a real word]

We all know there are some words in different languages that just don't translate well into our [ever-so-elegant] english language.  Communication theorists believe and have proof that not only does culture effect language, but language effects culture.
Take the Hopi Indian for example.  They have very few personal pronouns [those words like: my, mine, yours, hers, his].  But that's not the interesting part.... the interesting part comes after when you look at their culture.  Their culture is very communal, and they view everything in their village as belonging to the village......Isn't it funny then, how their language doesn't have any personal pronouns? Coincidence? I THINK NOT.

Anyway... that's a little background information about language, and how it influences culture.
We have some pretty boring words in English, and I think we miss some important feelings. Like this word in inuit.

We don't have a word for it in English, but we should.

The kind of feeling that makes you look at the door every time it opens, in hopes that your favorite person in the world might be coming to surprise you that day.

The kind of feeling that makes you suspicious every time he all of a sudden stops responding to your text messages, and you automatically think it's because he MUST be on a plane coming to visit you, and not that he just ran into an old friend.

That's all I have to say about that.

Love,