English: Forever and a day...

The English language is a simple one to learn, or maybe Omanis are just very good learners, and it is now if not the most spoken language of our world, it has surely displaced French as the international lingua franca.

With 1.3 billion native speakers, of course Chinese is the most spoken global language, followed by Spanish 485 million, English 373 million, Arabic 362 million, and Hindi at 344 million rounding out the top five. It appears that the commercial imperatives of a single global economy, and the need for absolute accuracy in finance have prompted the assumption of the number one spot by English, in global communications, despite the position of primacy held in manufacturing and industry, by the Republic of China, and is probably a matter of convenience.

All languages have their unique aspects, their lovable words, and phraseologies, many as the result of media or entertainment exposure. In this way than ‘hakuna matata,’ from the 1994 Walt Disney Studios musical animation of ‘The Lion King,’ with Elton John’s music and Time Rice’s lyrics. Rice apparently found the phrase in a Swahili phrasebook, loosely interpreted as ‘no worries’ in English, and that’s how it has entered the sphere of global colloquialisms. I love how in two vastly different languages it still conveys its message so well.

‘Karaoke’ is a Japanese word that means without orchestra and portrays very accurately the music fad of the 1970’s, originating in Japan, where orchestral accompaniments, and autocued lyrics appeared on screens, and ordinary people like you and I could sing to our heart’s content. Most of us thought it would never be a success, but there is a wannabe popstar in all of us it seems.

‘Paparazzi’ is, of course, of Italian origin and is the name given to the photographers that follow, haunt, or harass celebrities to get their photos, if possible, in compromising situations. The word itself is taken from the Frederico Fellini movie La Dolce Vita, where a photographer character was named Paparazzo, which means an annoying sound that you cannot get rid of.

Now that’s not to say English is perfect, however it is its idiosyncrasies that make it so much fun to speak and write, with words not meaning what they say sometimes, and are frequently referred to as ‘Janus’ words, after the ancient Roman God, and overseer of doorways and entrances. He was depicted as having two different faces as he could see entrances and exits, beginnings and endings, and is the origin of the phrase describing someone who is your friend to your face, and your enemy to others, as being ‘two-faced.’

So, English has words like ‘finished,’ which could mean completed, or could mean eliminated, or to ‘bolt’ could mean to lock yourself in (or out), or to run away. Do you see what I mean? One that I particularly like is when an activity is officially ‘sanctioned,’ which is the same as being permitted, yet when ‘sanctions’ are imposed, one is not permitted to act in defiance of those sanctions, which is weird isn’t it? One that we men seem to fall foul of occasionally is the word ‘fine,’ which has this, apparently masculine attachment of being excellent, perfect, or amazing, while the feminine perspective is more of the acceptable, or “I am just saying this so we stop arguing, but I’m not good with it,’ variety, and maybe related somewhat, to ‘fix’ something usually means to repair it, but when applied to animals, means to castrate them! You wouldn’t want to get that last one wrong, would you?

But finally, can anyone explain to me how the word ‘literally’ went from being a redundant adverb, meaning exactly, or word for word, to becoming a fashionable ‘intensifier?’ Surely, saying someone “ate all the pies,” means the same when you intensify it thus: Someone literally ate all the pies. Do that to a million statements and it will always come out the same. In fact, it will come out ‘exactly’ the same... another redundant adverb!

And the final word goes to Will Shakespeare who made the words ‘forever and a day,’ which is of course an impossibility, a cliché. But that’s another story, for another day.