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You may have seen a satirical cartoon called “Pearls Before Swine” drawn by Stephan Pastis.
One cartoon pictured Pig (the kind but very naive character) engaged in conversation with Rat (the narcissistic, misanthropic antihero).
Rat, Pig and an attractive woman are all sitting at a lunch counter.
Rat begins the conversation by looking at Pig and saying “Behold I, master linguist Rat, seek to test the linguistic theory that when people don’t understand a word, they automatically assume it’s inappropriate”.
“Thus, I have invented the phrase, ‘schloop schloop ping-a-pang bong,’ which means, ‘to play a vigorous game of ‘Monopoly’ “.
Rat requests, “Pig, please read this note to the kind person next to you”.
Rat then gives the note to Pig, who turns to the attractive woman sitting next to him at the lunch counter. And Pig says to her, “Hello, Ma’am. Care to come home with me and schloop schloop ping-a-pang bong?”
The attractive woman kicks Pig as hard as she can, and Pig lands on the floor.
Pig then laments that it “looks like someone doesn’t like ‘Monopoly’ “.
Rat decides he likes the results and wants to test his linguistic theory on others.
The cartoonist makes a great point. It’s not always what we say, or how we say it, but sometimes the very words we choose get in the way of what we mean and the sentiment we are trying to convey.
Take attending a funeral for example. How many of us at one time or another have become tongue tied? Choosing the right words became difficult. The words and our feelings just didn’t seem to mesh.
Another good example is contemporary rap music. Sometimes the words are deemed disgusting, dirty and totally inappropriate by older generations. Meanwhile younger people can feel that rap connects them to their world.
Even our sign for OK (the pointer finger touching the thumb forming a circle and holding in the air the remaining three fingers) can be a problem. It does not universally mean yes, agreed or all is well. In much of Europe and some South American countries, for example, it is a sign of great disrespect and indicates that you are worthless, or a zero, or a donkey’s behind.
Can you picture Pig sitting at the lunch counter in a quaint little pub in Germany and the attractive woman sitting next to him asks how he is enjoying his meal. Pig responds with the OK sign. Whop! Pig is again kicked hard enough that he lands on the floor.
My experience has been that when we attend school from the first grade on through university and beyond, we are taught vocabulary, spelling and sentence structure. English majors are taught the elements of great literature. Seldom taught is the proper usage of language… except for communications and perhaps marketing students. That leaves the rest of us to fend for ourselves, going through life, stepping unintentionally on each other’s toes without knowing how or why.
Honey, you look really great today. Oh, you didn’t like the way I looked yesterday? I just like this dress a little better. What do you mean… the dress I wore yesterday is the one you gave me for Christmas? Oh, I forgot. How could you forget what you got me for Christmas? Uh oh….
In my mind the purpose of language is to build agreement and avoid conflict. Yet through carelessness, uncaring or unknowing use of words that do not properly reflect our true meaning, we open ourselves to consternation and misinterpretation.
“The President stinks” is not the best way to say that you disagree with some of the President’s policies.
Nor is “You stink for thinking the President stinks” the best way to say that you have faith in those same policies in which someone else disagrees.
To make matters worse, there are those who clearly understand the use of language and intentionally stir things up to what they perceive as their advantage.
This happens through loose words, undisciplined tweets, Facebook postings, social media musings, alternate truths and other communications designed to tear people apart not bring them together.
How can a person summarize thoughts in 80 letters, a few words or a short paragraph?
If you witness a car accident, can you summarize what you saw in a word or even a few words? Gross. Awful. Scary. Tearful. A life lost. Heroic caregivers. Good Samaritan. Faulty brakes. Traffic delay. Great need. Would any one of these words or phrases properly describe an accident? No, of course not, and in fact all of them together are inadequate.
If we consider the varying backgrounds of groups within our community, state and nation, and our country’s relationship with other nations, how can we express ourselves well across these many divides?
And that is my point. It just seems that we should think before we communicate. And we should choose our words carefully to properly express what we want them to mean.
So the next time any of us want to play Monopoly, perhaps we should pass on asking the pretty girl next to us whether she would like to “schloop schloop ping-a-pang bong”?
Bill Gindlesperger is a central Pennsylvanian, Dickinson College graduate, Pennsylvania System Of Higher Education (PASSHE) Governor, former Shippensburg University Trustee, awarded numerous patents, as well as Founder and Chairman of eLynxx Solutions. eLynxx provides cloud-software for automated sourcing and managing of mail marketing, swag, packaging, and all things print. He is a board member, campaign advisor, successful entrepreneur, published author and commentator. He can be reached at Bill.Gindlesperger@eLynxx.com.
