Friday, June 09, 2006

Cowabunga, Dude

Language is a cool thing, is it not? I hope that languages in all their glory don't all meld into English or Chinese or Spanish over time, as I've heard predicted. The vagaries of language are their evolutionary strength.

I think a lot of those variances won't go away, because of where they exist and from whence they've come. Take Italian for instance - We all think Italian is Italian, but it ain't so. A Veniciano speaker is gonna have a hard time even understanding a Sicilian, and vice versa. In France, Parisians speak nothing at all like farmers from Provence. Northern versus southern Germans, same gig. There are many dialects of Spanish and Portuguese in Mexico, Central America, and South America. Canadians from the Maritimes don't sound like those from British Columbia at all.

I grew up outside of Boston, and when I moved to Spokane at 15 years of age, people had a hard time understanding me. Monica, from western Washington State, couldn't make herself understood by a rural Vermonter. Now that I live in Fort Worth, I can tell you that nobody understands the Texan dialect that sounds as if it's being delivered through a mouthful of marbles, (Yes, there are people who speak just like Boomhauer from King of the Hill...).

And then there are those words or phrases that become popular due to the times, music, culture, (Such as it is), etc. Those little bon mots have always intrigued me, and maybe that's why I still use so many, well, antique words...
When I was a kid in the 60's, good things were groovy or cool. Bad things were a bummer. Somebody being a jerk was a curr. And general agreement was acknowledged with a right on! Far out meant really good. The pigs, the man, the establishment were all bummers and definitely square. Tune in, turn on, and drop out, man...

The 70's ushered in Nose Candy, Peruvian Marching Powder, or Mexican Happy Dust. The Dry Look, and the Me Generation ruled. Who among my generation knew what Gabardine was before those days? Leisure Suits, Disco Sucks T Shirts, and Hip Huggers.

The 80's? Hair band, Butt Metal, Glam Rock, Jacko, New Wave, Punk Rock, New Age and the second British Invasion joined the patois...

Ah, the 90's - Grunge Rock, Death Metal, CorporateSpeak, Dude, Dawg, and Whoa! I remember coming down the trail from a famous rock climbing wall in Washington, and meeting a couple California Surfer Dudes on the way up, they were friendly and excited about the climbs they were going to do, and interested in what we'd done and knew about those routes; I think... They said, and I quote; "Who, Dudes, were you totally up on Snow Creek Wall? Yo, Dawg, what route? Outer Space? Waaaay Honer!! Were you totally honed for that or what? Dude, that is so space age; honer, Dawgs!!" And off they went. You tell me what that was about. Dude, that gnarly rock like fully biffed my board!

And in to the 21st Century; Gen Xers, more Dawgs, and seemingly, a mish-mash recycle of things old. Rockabilly, Psychobilly, Newgrass, Aggro Rock...

Ah, what the hell, it's all groovy anyway - Right on!!

No comments: