The art of communication

The concept of language is mind boggling. How did we ever come up with this? I get certain basics like “Me, Tarzan” or “I want that thing you have.” You can do some of this with grunts, like “Tim the Tool Man” used to do on TV (and still does in syndication). But how on earth did we ever learn to verbalize things like “What do you think of the Mets chances this year?” Aside from the fact that this thought is an exercise in futility to begin with (the Mets have no pitching), it is an abstract idea. There is nothing to connect it with in the real world (at least not until they get some pitching).What about different languages? If you allow that the human species could make certain basic noises, kind of like dogs and wolves, how on earth did we go in so many different directions? Chinese has no relationship to Russian, and these have none to the Romance languages or to African or English. What about that aboriginal clicking thing? And is one of them living behind my refrigerator?Written language just takes it to the ridiculous. How did people ever agree that this little mark would represent that particular sound? Further, each language has its own system of marks. You would think that sometimes the marks would be the same, but no. They are pronounced differently, depending on the language. But there are only so many ways to skin a cat. Actually, this happens to a small degree. Spanish, Swedish, and German pronounce the letter “J” differently from English, and Spanish differently from the other two, although they all, by some miracle, use the same alphabet. Russians use that acrylic alphabet (water soluble), and the Japanese and Chinese draw little pictures with brushes. So did my kids when they were little, but it didn’t amount to an entire written language, just some family portraits that took a bit of explaining at the parent-teacher meetings.Maybe the marks would be the same but have different meaning. I know this can happen with the spoken language, resulting in confused communications. I have personally experienced this with interactions like, “I’m just going to lie down for a few minutes.” Or, “I’ll take care of the garbage right away.”Most of us supplement the spoken word with body language. This does seem to be universal. If somebody throws a punch, I don’t need an interpreter. Sticking out your tongue has varying degrees of insult, but they all indicate an insult. Don’t do this to a Maori unless you are armed.OK, who took that last piece of cheesecake in the fridge? Bill Abrams resides and recites, anything and everything, in languages from far and near, in Pine Plains.