Language nonsense – phrases from a foreign point of view

 

[the Mad Hatter*]

People make language but don’t necessarily understand it. In other words, native speakers use phrases to signify a certain meaning even if the literal meaning of the words is not in alignment, never even noticing the contradiction. Foreigners, struggling to understand the language, then ask “why” questions, to which native speakers have no logical answer besides “because”. This phenomenon is not limited to English but applies to all human languages.

English is filled with strange phrases whose parts do not equal their sum. Why do slow up and slow down mean the same? Should the verb slow function like the volume button on a keyboard, i.e. more slow and less slow? Likewise, I cannot explain why a person drives a car on a parkway but parks a car on a driveway. This is extremely illogical, as Spock would say. Finally, consider the expression never mind. The word mind means “pay attention” as the phrase at rail stations mind your distance. However, I cannot grasp where the never came from. We use this phrase to express dismissal of a comment or event, similar to forget it. However, if I never mind anything, I would never get upset or listen to anything or anybody, which is not the essence of the expression. Thus, when asked by students about these and similar expression, my only answer is “never mind”.

Other languages are no less guilty of sloppy constructions. The French dis donc, literally means “say then”, but actually means “wow” or “what are you saying”.  As an example, if someone experienced an extraordinary event, the listening might say "dis donc". The Hebrew  שים לב [seem lev] means pay attention and is a common phrase in both writing and street signs. Yet, it consists of two words, put and heart, which, put together, do not reflect the use of the term. Similarly in Russian, the answer да нет наверное [da nyet navernoe] consists of three words: yes, no, maybe. In practice, it means I refuse but I have doubt[example credit]. These are merely three examples of myriads of accepted insanity in language.

Lewis Carroll and Dr. Seuss touched on this issue with their famous quotes about meaning and saying. Apparently, if native speakers understand each other, there is no need for strictly logical language. As for foreigners, these expressions are just another element of mastering a foreign language. In practice, nobody is going to change a language just to make it logical.

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Picture credit