Saturday, November 5, 2011

I’m chuckling while I write this as I think of how messed up things can get when language semantics get confused. 

Earlier today, I spoke with a photographer friend who lives in Spain.  We got talking about relationships.  In the course of that conversation, it became clear that language semantics were muddying the water for what he intended to say.  He’d meant to state that he thoroughly enjoyed visiting with my friends and me a few months back when he came to Los Angeles and did a photo shoot involving me.  But, when he tried to express such, my friend stated that he was in a relationship with me.  LOL.  I quickly explained that one had to be mindful of what words were used to express relationships, lest the wrong impression be cast.  Embarrassed, my friend quickly mended his statement to that which he’d intended, to let me know how very much he’d felt welcomed by my friends and me during his visit to the US.

It’s always struck me as odd how words can get so jumbled.  How what was meant to be said, can get tossed in a blender, the resulting product so far removed from what was intended that it’s laughable.  I’m glad my photographer friend and I could chuckle over the word mishap.  That no hard feelings were felt.  That we were both mature enough to recognize that a simple language faux pas had been made—nothing more.