Power Of Language Essay - 2008 Words

I am not a scholar of English or literature. I cannot give you much more than personal opinions on the English language and its variations in this country or others. I am a writer. And by that definition, I am someone who has always loved language. I am fascinated by language in daily life. I spend a great deal of my time thinking about the power of language -- the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth. Language is the tool of my trade. And I use them all -- all the Englishes I grew up with. Recently, I was made keenly aware of the different Englishes I do use. I was giving a talk to a large group of people, the same talk I had already given to half a dozen other groups. The nature of the talk was†¦show more content†¦So you ll have some idea of what this family talk I heard sounds like, I 11 quote what my mother said during a recent conversation which I videotaped and then transcribed. During this conversation, my mother was talking about a political gangster in Shanghai who had the same last name as her family s, Du, and how the gangster in his early years wanted to be adopted by her family, which was rich by comparison. Later, the gangster became more powerful, far richer than my mother s family, and one day showed up at my mother s wedding to pay his respects. Here s what she said in part: Du Yusong having business like fruit stand. Like off the street kind. He is Du like Du Zong -- but not Tsung-ming Island people. The local people call putong, the river ea st side, he belong to that side local people. That man want to ask Du Zong father take him in like become own family. Du Zong father wasn t look down on him, but didn t take seriously, until that man big like become a mafia. Now important person, very hard to inviting him. Chinese way, came only to show respect, don t stay for dinner. Respect for making big celebration, he shows up. Mean gives lots of respect. Chinese custom. Chinese social life that way. If too important won t have to stay too long. He come to my wedding. I didn t see, I heard it. I gone to boy s side, they have YMCA dinner. Chinese age I was nineteen. You should knowShow MoreRelated The Power of Language Essay793 Words   |  4 Pages The Power of Language nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;If I say that I am currently employed with a major petroleum distribution center, you may think that I am a highly qualified person making limitless amounts of money. However, I am using the power of language to merely say that I work at a gas station making minimum wage. 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