Jawn
I was just pondering about the word "jawn."
If you don't know the significance of that word, it is a word used in place of any other word. UrbanDictionary says it is "a word used to describe anything."
It's commonly used like the word "thing": mentioning something without actually using a precise noun of any kind. However, allegedly, jawn can be any of the other parts of speech.
What specifically struck me was the increasing movement toward saying nothing significant.
If you have spoken with any five random Americans (I say Americans only because I am one and cannot evaluate any other nation with any level of thoroughness), you will have noticed that their conversation can be full of contentless gobbledygook: the word "like" is rampant and is rarely used productively; expletives are often thrown in arbitrarily; the word "fuck," for example, can take on most of the parts of speech ("friggin," "freakin," and "frakkin" are common substitutes); many sentences are ended with the question (or statement – it's not really clear) "ya know?"; plenty of sentences are never ended (whether they be run-on sentences or half-sentences lacking either a verb or a subject or both). This is only in speech.
American writing is no better: all of the above-mentioned issues in speech show up in writing; punctuating intelligibly is a long-forgotten anachronism; spelling properly is an almost-forgotten anachronism; people will often think some thing but forget to write half of the words they were thinking.
The real issue is why I'm even writing this: whether in speaking or writing, people tend not to be clear. In other words, people make no sense. This is not to say that people's actions can't be understood—that's its own big problem. I'm saying that, commonly, if one were actually to listen to a person and seek the meaning of their statements, one would find only a sprinkling of sense and a majority of rambling.
So far, it's possible that you disagree with me, and you have no idea why I'd ever say that people make no sense. If such is that case, I must suggest it's probably because you've never anticipated, longed for, or conceived of a person making sense (plus, you've probably made very little sense on your own). I imagine you'd be likely to disagree with that too. However, consider how confusing our human-laden world seems to be. Consider how little sense men think women make. Consider how little sense women think men make.
I posit that much of the reason is because sense hasn't been expected for so long: children aren't raised to be sensible, adults aren't required to be sensible, and most people are too afraid to say that they don't understand what's going on. People are more and more comfortable with a lack of clarity.
Getting back to "jawn," it seems one step closer to people really committing to making no sense.
Obviously, people can interpret what another person means. People can understand without real words being used. Even so, events like "jawn" are making it more and more natural to have no clear sense.
Interpretation, assumption, and other such methods of understanding a person without them truly being clear were meant to compensate for the confusion that humanity naturally causes.
The more we work toward being purposefully unclear, the closer we will be to undoing the ability to communicate at all.
You may jeer at me, saying I'm just an uptight stickler.
The next time you have an argumentative misunderstanding with your boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse (or anyone for that matter), remember: you have trained yourself to make no sense.
If you don't know the significance of that word, it is a word used in place of any other word. UrbanDictionary says it is "a word used to describe anything."
It's commonly used like the word "thing": mentioning something without actually using a precise noun of any kind. However, allegedly, jawn can be any of the other parts of speech.
What specifically struck me was the increasing movement toward saying nothing significant.
If you have spoken with any five random Americans (I say Americans only because I am one and cannot evaluate any other nation with any level of thoroughness), you will have noticed that their conversation can be full of contentless gobbledygook: the word "like" is rampant and is rarely used productively; expletives are often thrown in arbitrarily; the word "fuck," for example, can take on most of the parts of speech ("friggin," "freakin," and "frakkin" are common substitutes); many sentences are ended with the question (or statement – it's not really clear) "ya know?"; plenty of sentences are never ended (whether they be run-on sentences or half-sentences lacking either a verb or a subject or both). This is only in speech.
American writing is no better: all of the above-mentioned issues in speech show up in writing; punctuating intelligibly is a long-forgotten anachronism; spelling properly is an almost-forgotten anachronism; people will often think some thing but forget to write half of the words they were thinking.
The real issue is why I'm even writing this: whether in speaking or writing, people tend not to be clear. In other words, people make no sense. This is not to say that people's actions can't be understood—that's its own big problem. I'm saying that, commonly, if one were actually to listen to a person and seek the meaning of their statements, one would find only a sprinkling of sense and a majority of rambling.
So far, it's possible that you disagree with me, and you have no idea why I'd ever say that people make no sense. If such is that case, I must suggest it's probably because you've never anticipated, longed for, or conceived of a person making sense (plus, you've probably made very little sense on your own). I imagine you'd be likely to disagree with that too. However, consider how confusing our human-laden world seems to be. Consider how little sense men think women make. Consider how little sense women think men make.
I posit that much of the reason is because sense hasn't been expected for so long: children aren't raised to be sensible, adults aren't required to be sensible, and most people are too afraid to say that they don't understand what's going on. People are more and more comfortable with a lack of clarity.
Getting back to "jawn," it seems one step closer to people really committing to making no sense.
Obviously, people can interpret what another person means. People can understand without real words being used. Even so, events like "jawn" are making it more and more natural to have no clear sense.
Interpretation, assumption, and other such methods of understanding a person without them truly being clear were meant to compensate for the confusion that humanity naturally causes.
The more we work toward being purposefully unclear, the closer we will be to undoing the ability to communicate at all.
You may jeer at me, saying I'm just an uptight stickler.
The next time you have an argumentative misunderstanding with your boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse (or anyone for that matter), remember: you have trained yourself to make no sense.
"I posit that much of the reason is because sense hasn't been expected for so long: children aren't raised to be sensible, adults aren't required to be sensible, and most people are too afraid to say that they don't understand what's going on."
ReplyDeleteApart from the language specifically, because I do think a lot of communication can happen even when words aren't all there, I do think that we have become afraid to say we don't know whats going on. We have whole heartedly adapted to a "fake it until you make it" mindset and have been told that it is necessary to get anywhere in life. I think it's why we have seen the Baby Boomers generation so wrapped up in their own stuff that they were unable to train the next generation to communicate effectively. How could they teach us when they themselves refused to learn it?
I think we do need to be conscious about what we are trying to communicate and learn. What we are trying to say. We almost need to get out of ourselves and see what the other person might be perceiving.