Download Toastmasters Speech: Language The English language is an

Toastmasters Speech: Language
The English language is an incredibly convoluted language. With parts of German,
French, Greek, and Latin, this hodgepodge of a language can be very confusing when trying to
communicate. And yet, here I am talking in English. And everybody understands what I am
saying. To effectively communicate in English I need to use the basic units of communication—
words—correctly. Subjects need to match verbs; adverbs need to describe adjectives, which need
to describe nouns. However, effective grammar is not enough to guarantee effective
communication. Take the sentence “Colorless green ideas sleep salubriously.” Sal-LOO-BreeUs-Lee
This adverb describes the adjective, which correctly describes the noun, which agrees with the
verb, which is correctly modified by the adverb.
Everything is grammatically correct. Yet what does it mean, “Colorless green ideas sleep
salubriously”? Think about it: “Colorless green ideas sleep salubriously.” I don’t know any more
than anyone else. How can an idea be green or a colorless green? And how can ideas sleep? Yet
alone sleep salubriously? Even though this sentence seems to be legitimate the lack of meaning
between the words make the sentence meaningless. Things are often different than they seem.
Things are often different than they seem. One of my favorite examples of a grammatically
correct English sentence is: Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo
Buffalo buffalo buffalo. That is eleven buffalos. Let me explain:
You see things are often more than what they seem to be. Even for the sake of clarity the
craziness of the English language is apparent. A friend of mine works at a restaurant called Fish
and Chips, and he wanted to add hyphens between the words Fish and And and And and Chips in
his Fish and Chips sign. But wouldn't the sentence
'I want to put a hyphen between the words Fish and And and And and Chips in my Fish-AndChips sign' have been clearer if quotation marks had been placed before Fish, and between Fish
and and, and and and And, and And and and, and and and And, and And and and, and and and
Chips, as well as after Chips?
You see things are often more than what they first appear to be. Thus, I place a task on you,
Toastmasters, to examine things second time because you never know when that which is
confusing actually makes sense and that which seems to make sense is actually meaningless.