Family Bonds
A few weeks ago i started using Instant Messaging in order to ease communication with some co-workers. I've since expanded to include some friends, and i have accounts via AIM, Google Talk, MSN, and Yahoo in order to accomodate everyone else's pre-existing company of choice. I had avoided IM for years due to its more synchronous, wide-scale nature, but figured a change was in order.
A few days ago a co-worker sends me this message: good morning :). No one at work talks to me about non-work related things, so i waited for this co-worker to send me the problem that needed solved. Three minutes later, Rex asks me if i'm logged in, because the other co-worker had messaged him that i hadn't responded. I told him i hadn't responded because i hadn't been asked anything, which Rex forwards on to the co-worker, and i get the following message from that co-worker: i hear i dont know frisco aim protocol... rex is fixing it for me :).
Language is a tricky subject for me and daily i feel uncomfortable with English, despite it's being my first language. Phrases like don't look a gift horse in the mouth are strange to me and make me pause to ponder their ramifications (the Trojan Horse was a gifted horse, had the Trojans looked in its mouth perhaps Troy would not have been lost, so is the phrase deceitful in nature?). I generally try to focus on a person's questions and actions, at least at work.
Ok, it's not really language, but the way a particular culture uses its language - i haven't been immersed in any culture long enough to fully learn its language nuances. While this has a (sometimes delightful, sometimes annoying) side-effect of giving me a distinct voice of my own, its main effect seems to be distancing me from the rest of society.
I realise this situation is made more unique by my own history, that my history is shared by only a few people, and as such i can depend on one and only one person to truly understand the ramifications of someone saying good morning :) to me, from what the hell do they want? to crap, i should respond, what is appropriate? and all the hrm, 3 o's in that one in between.
That one person is my brother.
A few days ago a co-worker sends me this message: good morning :). No one at work talks to me about non-work related things, so i waited for this co-worker to send me the problem that needed solved. Three minutes later, Rex asks me if i'm logged in, because the other co-worker had messaged him that i hadn't responded. I told him i hadn't responded because i hadn't been asked anything, which Rex forwards on to the co-worker, and i get the following message from that co-worker: i hear i dont know frisco aim protocol... rex is fixing it for me :).
Language is a tricky subject for me and daily i feel uncomfortable with English, despite it's being my first language. Phrases like don't look a gift horse in the mouth are strange to me and make me pause to ponder their ramifications (the Trojan Horse was a gifted horse, had the Trojans looked in its mouth perhaps Troy would not have been lost, so is the phrase deceitful in nature?). I generally try to focus on a person's questions and actions, at least at work.
Ok, it's not really language, but the way a particular culture uses its language - i haven't been immersed in any culture long enough to fully learn its language nuances. While this has a (sometimes delightful, sometimes annoying) side-effect of giving me a distinct voice of my own, its main effect seems to be distancing me from the rest of society.
I realise this situation is made more unique by my own history, that my history is shared by only a few people, and as such i can depend on one and only one person to truly understand the ramifications of someone saying good morning :) to me, from what the hell do they want? to crap, i should respond, what is appropriate? and all the hrm, 3 o's in that one in between.
That one person is my brother.
posted by francisco at 4/02/2006 01:36:00 AM
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