As a person who prides himself on trying to learn other languages so that I can communicate better with other people, especially when I travel, this article really caught my eye. http://phoebeholmes.com/2011/12/23/being-retarded/
When I learn other languages for trips to Europe, I do so in order to be polite and show appreciation and respect for the people of the country I am visiting. So I read this article that my son posted on Facebook and it got me thinking about how we use our native language in everyday conversation. Sure we have come to accept certain levels of slang or colloquial phrases and we even accept a certain level of vulgarity for many varied reasons. But in this case as published by the author - improper use of a word that is not properly understood goes way beyond bad manners. So what to do? First and foremost we need to police our own language and when we start to say something that might be misunderstood we need to pause, take a breath and re-think what we are going to speak. Secondly we need to educate others around us if and when we hear them making this error. If all of us would focus on this, eventually in time this kind of "bad" language would be a thing of the past.
Respect - it is all about respect - for each other - for life. We have each been given one life to live and doing it with respect will go a long way to creating a better world for all of us.
Deacon Dale
When I learn other languages for trips to Europe, I do so in order to be polite and show appreciation and respect for the people of the country I am visiting. So I read this article that my son posted on Facebook and it got me thinking about how we use our native language in everyday conversation. Sure we have come to accept certain levels of slang or colloquial phrases and we even accept a certain level of vulgarity for many varied reasons. But in this case as published by the author - improper use of a word that is not properly understood goes way beyond bad manners. So what to do? First and foremost we need to police our own language and when we start to say something that might be misunderstood we need to pause, take a breath and re-think what we are going to speak. Secondly we need to educate others around us if and when we hear them making this error. If all of us would focus on this, eventually in time this kind of "bad" language would be a thing of the past.
Respect - it is all about respect - for each other - for life. We have each been given one life to live and doing it with respect will go a long way to creating a better world for all of us.
Deacon Dale
