Quotes About Language

En nuestra clase social pareciera que solo al llegar a ancianos dejamos de ser «niños» o «niñas». Es común escuchar «deberías andar con ese niño» o «esa niña es increíble» al hablar de hombres y mujeres que rebasan los cuarenta años. La absoluta infantilización del lenguaje que engendra adolescentes cuarentones.

Puns are a form of humor with words.

Writers rush in where publishers fear to tread and where translators fear to tread.

how the word janitor came from Janus, the god of entrances and exits,

Words prepare the way for deeds to come, detonate future explosions.

verzeihen Sie, daß ich so furchtbar gescheit daherrede, aber wenn man an der Universität ist, kommt einem eine Menge vertrottelter Bücher unter die Hände; unwillkürlich verfällt man dann in eine deppenhafte Ausdrucksweise.

Buchstaben zu empfinden, sie nicht nur mit den Augen in Büchern zu lesen, - einen Dolmetsch in mir selbst aufzustellen, der mir übersetzt, was die Instinkte ohne Worte raunen, darin muß der Schlüssel liegen, sich mit dem eigenen Innern durch klare Sprache zu verständigen, begriff ich.

Poetry is as exact a science as geometry

Human speech is like a cracked cauldron on which we bang out tunes that make bears dance, when what we want is to move the stars to pity.

I have the handicap of being born with a special language to which I alone have the key.

Poetry is as precise a thing as geometry.

The art of those who govern consists above all in the science of employing words.

podrá no haber poetas; pero siempre habrá poesía

El Torito rescued the meals from the mythologizing amnesia of Southern California and introduced them to areas where customers didn't know how to pronounce the meals they waited for in hour-long lines.

But a smart Mexican comes into this country with the understanding gabachos will always dismiss them as idiots. To get ahead, then, many Mexicans pretend not to recognize English so their gabacho bosses can entrust them with all the company secrets—codes, financial figures, and the all-important personal telephone number of the secretary.

Similarly, the Mexican Bueno greeting opens a window into our politeness. It originates from our daily salutations—buenos dias, buenas tarde, and buenas noche (good morning, afternoon, and evening, respectively), and thus the phone greeting Bueno is just a shortened version of the others. And remember that Mexicans are some of the happiest people on earth—and nothing radiates positive vibes like saying Bueno.

Speak Spanish, get accused of separatism. Speak English, get laughed at for thick accents and limited vocabularies. Many Mexicans speak English to Mexican workers out of gratitude—the fast-food counter is the only place Mexicans can feel like Americans by speaking the shared language of haggling with Mexican workers over the cost of fries.

Examples of elision in Mexican Spanish abound—pa' instead of para (for), apá instead of papá (father), SanTana instead of Santa Ana, pos instead of pues (well), and my supposed gaffe.

Chingar: To fuck up. Its various derivatives are used for a delightful array of insults, such as chingadera (fucked-up situation), chingazos (punches thrown), and Chinga tu madre, cabrón (Go fuck your mother, asshole). Chinga tu madre, cabrón—if you don't stop this chingadera, I'm going to chingar you with chingazos.

Chúntaro: A Mexican redneck. Term used mostly by Mexicans against each other. Jeff Foxworthy is a white chúntaro.

Gabacho: A gringo. But Mexicans don't call gringos gringos. Only gringos call gringos gringos. Mexicans call gringos gabachos.

Pocho: An Americanized Mexican.

The angels in heaven covered their eyes with their hands and sobbed loudly, because that is what they always do when a man hits his wife. A profound sadness settled over the earth...God was silent in every language. The angels tried to dry their tears, but their handkerchiefs were so soaked through that is started raining even in the deserts.

Thomas loved words, particularly if he didn't understand them.