Mixed up words, Spoken vs written. A sound-bite culture

When speaking is a less than perfect art, as in the case of our little ones, the words get mixed up and miss-pronounced. I will try to illustrate, but for those of us who know language it is difficult to translate in reverse.

worder - meaning water

mowny – meaning money

sue gwy gwy – meaning screwdriver

get loss – meaning lip gloss

I am certain if we were not around these new talkers we would have no clue what they were trying to say, but since I understand, I do not correct the speech in most cases. Time and other speakers will make all the necessary corrections as they listen and learn.

I know from experience that if an adult that spends a lot of time around a child, they will see how effectively they themselves interact with others. As I watch my grandchildren imitate their parents expressions, it is funny beyond words. Like seeing my granddaughter stomp her tiny right foot and as forcefully as possible snap her head to the left and go “Sheesh!!” I almost fall over.

But I face a different challenge in putting words in print. When we talk face-to-face we can look at the faces of others and gauge their expressions, examine their body language, and get a visual sense of the validity, intensity and the humor of the conversation. In prose that is sadly lacking.

Even in phone conversations there are subtle inflections of tone and voice, the obvious laughter or choked-up crying that comes through the voice. There is also time to question, investigate, or dig deeper when there is a lack of understanding. Again all of that is lacking in the written word.

But without recording electronically or by video, writing is the only way to preserve a thought, a moment, or broadly communicate an idea, and some things are worth preserving, communicating, or passing along. And sadly, there is little writing going on these days. I have to exclude Facebook and Twitter and most IM's, since there is a special language used in those communications; a language I am unwilling to learn.

And it concerns me that we, as a culture, are becoming “attention deficit” in our interactions using short bursts of information, cryptic messages and one hundred character thoughts. Very little effective communication there. James Dobson said years ago, as the culture was preaching the idea “quality time” as the focus of interaction especially with our children, that there is no “quality time” without “quantity time”. All of the above mentioned forms of communication focus on expedience or convenience rather than interaction, let alone expressive communication. No quantity there and I will argue, no quality either.

We will be the losers if we let our youth get lost in the “sound bite” culture.

We are on our way to West Virginia today to meet a new baby and go to some appointments. Something not possible to accomplish electronically.