Language has many uses, including communicating great ideas, recording the events of history and ordering pizza. It also helps define the people who speak it, and I’m always fascinated by the connection between Japan’s language and its people. Japanese is well-known for being a vague language in which information is omitted from sentences if it’s understood by the context, to the point that foreigners have to pay close attention in order to follow what’s being said. Correspondingly, the Japanese are also vague — or “about,” an English word they’ve re-purposed to mean vague and imprecise — and they’re masters as fitting deep nuance into the words they use every day. Another function of language is, at times, to hide your conversation from others. In Las Vegas my wife and I were shopping in a Ferragamo store (if you marry a Japanese woman you’ll become quite familiar with these), and some interesting customers came in to buy shoes. They were sporting the current “pants at half-mast” vogue, and thanks to Japanese, I was able to call my wife’s attention to them so she could witness the latest in silly fashions trends in the U.S.
We got to check out the latest fashions in Las Vegas.
