EUPHEMISMS, TAKEOFF, DETACHMENT I am thinking more and more about language and its often superlative power to do and undo. I am thinking once one has done time in academia and one has done time on the street knowing good fortune from learning well 1) the essentials of doing and undoing, 2) both street wise and classical wise, knowing as well how to employ and deploy the tools of each camp in its other, or not and, 3) knowing and applying the concept of detachment. Not so you can say in your next conversational preening foray how much detachment has helped you master the hidden power of meditation practice babble babble babble. No! No! But, so you can appreciate the increased power to analyze when you have unaligned your alliances to everything and everybody long enough to think clearly. The above two sentences are for me sources of real joy. If you are a fast track addict, well, even if you are not, you might want to skip the first paragraph and consider the following metaphor that amuses me. I didnt know then but learning to fly airplanes in Spain was an enterprise that provided the lagniappe of understanding Spanish better. It worked: I scored 96 on the Spanish three hour written exam despite the poor acoustic quality of the classroom and traffic noise from the Gran Via of Madrid coming through the open window. In a perfect setting years later in Florida I took the test in English just to nail a US license to the wall. My score was 76. I.e. I fly better in Spanish. But, here is the metaphor for this case. I fell in love with the Spanish word for take off: despegar. The word peg comes from the same latin source. It means focus and attach to. The word pegar is the Spanish word meaning to glue. The word for taking off in an airplane in Spanish is despegar. Literally, TO COME UNGLUED. The Earth is no longer your domain. The sky is your concern because being relatively secured to the sky you are free to study the Earth without being glued to it. You are detached. The state of detachment enables you to study ALL ASPECTS of a situation including the language you use in thinking about it. Slang is sometimes cute but, primarily because slang is a slung language tool. Vernacular is specialized because it is used for a special environment. Vernacular is useful metaphor wise only if that vernacular word is generally understood outside its environment. Then, of course, it may be too late to qualify it as vernacular. Euphemisms are always lies. They are extremely useful for that class of people that dichotomizes language into good words and bad words. This class of people imagines that the euphemism somehow applies a veneer on the euphemised word that smothers its smell or beautifies it sufficiently to use in polite company if they dont understand synonyms or the need for precision or rhetoric in language. The good/bad class also are inclined to see life in terms of us vs them. It treasures simple team against team games life American Football, no matter the degree of brain damage to the players future. Politicians love and are loved by this class. It is easy to talk in terms of vague, irrelevant, undefined terms as long as you have a good bucket of veneer and end your speeches with whatever blessing is most popular. Like, god bless you and god bless america. Euphemisms are best used when applied to comedy or satire. Thats is why I will leave this version of this article with one of George Carlins best skits attached. But, after reminding you that my purpose here is to encourage you to focus on making language your most valued tool in navigating life. It is free. And thought doesnt really exist without it. A good way to cement that last sentence in your commandments tabula before you reduce it into slag is search, consider and understand the meaning of the koine Greek word LOGOS. No, not logoes. LOGUS. YouTube has several Carlin skits on euphemism. They are not the same. I recommend you check them all. youtube/watch?v=vuEQixrBKCc
Posted on: Fri, 18 Oct 2013 21:43:42 +0000
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