Careful what you say...

I was thinking the other day how powerful words, and your use of them can be. What words become your second set of language, y'know? To clarify, many folks use a primary set of language, whether you speak another language, and use english to make it here, or you use "proper english" by day, and whatever the hell you feel outside of that. I'm kinda like that. See, my mother raised both my sister and me (peep how I didn't say I) to speak properly in the house. We addressed elders as Mr. and M(r)s or Sir and Ma'am. When I call somebody, I tend to say "may I please speak with ___________________", even though I know damn well who I'm calling.

However, unlike my sister--I have a gift for picking up on sound, so I can mimick other tongues, accents and dielects very well. My sister sounds proper even when she uses slang, bless her heart. I have been confused for being from NY, the west coast and down south at different points, not because I was trying to front, but because it's kind of natural for me to speak to people in the manner they speak to me. If you have a west coast accent, it's "dog what's poppin?", from Atlanta, it's "What up folk?". Not all the time, but it happens that way. Then, there's a third language--that language we have when we're comfortable.

My pops has told me for years not to use the term shut up, although I never saw the big deal with it, even as an adult. But, when I got irritated during a game, and told a friend to shut up, I realized what dad was saying. See, my friend knew I didn't mean anything by it. She knew that she was getting to me because I'm competitive and I like to succeed, and we were in the middle of a heated game of taboo. But, her mother, who has only heard me speak in my primary, sometimes my secondary tongue, probably had no clue.

Now, I am a respectful dude in most cases, sometimes I can be a bit beligerant (which I'm working on), but those cases are far more sparse than a few years ago. Thing is, her mother may have a completely different view of me, like I'm some nice guy when she's around, and some jack ass when she's not. True--much sillier, but the respect level don't change.

With that, I'm trying to make sure that those words don't just come out, especially in times of frustration. So, the n word and shut up are words to work on. Shut up I think I can do--the n word is a whole other conversation for another day.

Watch your words people--they are powerful, and once uttered, they can't be unsaid.

Peace.