art of language

Some of my relatives have been glued to their television screen watching a Chinese mini-series on DVD. Out of sheer boredom and a pinch of curiousity, I have joined to watch bits and pieces of this long dramatic series. This series is performed in Cantonese, technically the first language I was taught by my parents. (English eventually became my more dominant language).

While I was watching the show, I understood the drift of what was going on ... to some degree ... with my meagre vocabulary. Thankfully my relatives are patient enough to explain what certain words or phrases mean if I do ask.

Somehow, this sparked a further discussion about the basis and cultural context of the language. An angry actor insulted another actor (in the series) by using a very graphic metaphor. He could have said, "You have nothing." But he said it in a way that was condescending and insulting. Unfortunately I don't recall the exact imagry, but it was like saying, "You only have the clothes on your back." My wise relative then went on to say that since the Chinese use lots of imagry and metaphors, the langauge is great for writing poetry.

It's amazing how such the tool of language, no matter what it is, can be used for destruction and demoralization or encouragement and edification.