Sirajuddin Aziz<\/p>\n
Perhaps the steep decline in the \u2018quality\u2019 of written and spoken lan\u00adguage has never been as rapid as it has been in the past two to three de\u00adcades. Like the Titanic, anything of substance takes a very long time to sink. In the context of the development and decline of language and societies, thir\u00adty to forty years is a drop in the ocean of time. This affliction of the downturn in language is not restricted to any particular geograph\u00adic area; neither is it confined to any one segment of society or industry. It is a mal\u00adaise without borders and is, hence, wide\u00adspread. No language today is safe from this onslaught that reduces it to base hu\u00adman instincts freely expressed, with inhi\u00adbitions thrown out of the window.
\nIn the not-too-distant past, the words chosen for communication were con\u00adsidered to reflect upbringing, school\u00ading, and family. The consistent vulgari\u00adsation of language, locally and globally, is a rude reality.
\nCorporate communication is as much a victim of this crass, obnoxious, and in\u00addecent slide. The niceties are becoming a rarity, almost heading towards extinc\u00adtion, and are no longer a part of commu\u00adnication. The sacrifice in quality is done under the guise and pretext of lack of time and the need for speed. It is argued that it is corporate culture that drives the content and quality of communication.
\nLanguage is critical to good commu\u00adnication. Possibly, for initiating, main\u00adtaining, and strengthening any type or format of relationship, the nature and quality of communication are extreme\u00adly important. We keep hearing that chil\u00addren do not understand what their par\u00adents mean; parents do not understand their children; husbands and wives don\u2019t understand each other. In the same vein, managers and supervisors don\u2019t understand each other. It is not that they cease to talk to each other, but they are simply not \u2018communicating\u2019. In very simple terms, conversation is per\u00adfect only when the message \u2018intended\u2019 is the message \u2018received\u2019 by the recipient. Any dichotomy would deprive commu\u00adnication of its true meaning.
\nWe are surrounded by insensitive com\u00admunicators. Some people are so insen\u00adsitive that they cannot talk to a cripple without mentioning feet. \u201cIt is the prov\u00adince of knowledge to speak and the privi\u00adlege of wisdom to listen.\u201d \u2018He talked forev\u00ader; and you wished him to talk on forever\u2019 (William Hazlitt). Queen Victoria, in jest, once said about William Gladstone, the famous Prime Minister, \u2018he speaks to me as if I were a public meeting\u2019. Communi\u00adcation shouldn\u2019t be an eruption of a dis\u00adease called \u2018talking incessantly\u2019.
\nIn many cultures and geographies, in\u00adcluding some parts of our country, the use of expletives in everyday conver\u00adsation is considered normal. It is not looked down upon. In fact, many users of obscene language remain unaware that they actually use swear words. They are oblivious to the profanity they utter. I had a senior colleague who would in\u00advariably use the worst adjectives. Upon being called out for these lapses, he would express ignorance. On one occa\u00adsion, I pointed out to him his use of an expletive during the meeting. He didn\u2019t believe he could have said anything in\u00adappropriate. He claimed it was not in his habit. The use of four-letter words or ab\u00adbreviated expletives is so common with many that there is no realisation on their part. I asked, what did you have in mind? Did you abuse the individual or the issue at hand? He kept insisting he does not use expletives. It was a habit.
\nThe multinationals, which were once in plenty in Pakistan, produced more \u2018Brown Sahibs\u2019 than the East India Com\u00adpany could have imagined in its almost 200-year history. These Brown Sahibs, in aping their foreign supervisors, par\u00adticularly from across the Atlantic, made liberal use of words unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman\u2026 including, \u2018O, Christ\u2026\u2019 (deliberately not quoting in full, holy this, holy that, etc.).
\nLanguage has become vulgar. All seg\u00adments of society have contributed to\u00adwards the decline in the quality of con\u00adversations. The politicians take the cake; of course, there are bankers, journalists, doctors, lawyers, film writers, lyricists. Some do not fall under the watchful, in\u00adtrusive, and unholy cameras and the le\u00adthal social media. Hence, their unique fund of filthy words remains obscured.
\nUnfortunately, it is now quite com\u00admonly believed that the use of profane words releases stress and tension. Be\u00adtween \u2018what the hell\u2019 and \u2018what the heck\u2019, it is difficult to say which is worse be\u00adcause both mean the same.
\nThere is an opinion that language pre\u00advents violence. The theory is that the use of swear words in communication is a good alternative to becoming physi\u00adcal. John Cohen, writing in The Observ\u00ader, stated, \u201cThe man who first abused his fellows with swear words instead of bashing their brains out with a club should be counted among those who laid the foundations of civilisation.\u201d Ver\u00adbal warfare has a preference over physi\u00adcal warfare because it doesn\u2019t leave be\u00adhind death, only wounded souls and decimated egos.
\nMany words of decent import and meaning over the years have acquired entirely new meanings by way of usage. Everyday ordinary words have become words of abuse. Regrettably, human anat\u00adomy is the basis for the growth and de\u00advelopment of explicitly crass and ugly ad\u00adjectives. Many are gender-specific. It is also not imagination, but fact, that both males and females use expletives. To pro\u00adtect myself and the readers from blush\u00ading with embarrassment, I refrain from mentioning the conversion of decent words into expletives in this piece. Intel\u00adligent readers have the licence to develop their own scrolls of such words, whose meanings are now housed in duplicity.
\nGeorge Bernard Shaw (GBS) said the best English is one that the receiver, the listen\u00ader, understands. On a different occasion, he highlighted what the language of commu\u00adnication should capture and deliver to the audience. Speaking about the Hungarian language, he remarked, \u201cAfter studying the Hungarian language for years, I can confi\u00addently conclude that had Hungarian been my mother tongue, it would have been more precious. Simply because through this extraordinary, ancient and power\u00adful language, it is possible to precisely de\u00adscribe the tiniest differences and the most secretive tremors of emotions.\u201d
\nThe sweetness of language, like, say, French, Persian, or Bengali, doesn\u2019t in any manner take away the sting of their respective words of vulgarity and abuse. It is also worth noting that both Urdu and Punjabi, which are spoken in offices, can give stiff competition to the named languages, including Hungarian, when it comes to detailed and explicit words. The art of imagination and creativity has to be at its best for developing a new vo\u00adcabulary of profane words.
\nOnly an artificial language such as Esperanto has no swear or expletive words. On Wikipedia\u2019s search engine, it is said that the language that has the most swear words is Croatian, with over one hundred expletives for five mil\u00adlion native speakers. Norway, shock\u00adingly to this scribe, comes in at second place with 94 swear words for 5.6 mil\u00adlion speakers, while their neighbours in Sweden have a variety exceeding 120 variants of abusive words. I luck\u00adily never worked in Scandinavia, so I can, alongside the readers, imagine and wonder about the beauty of corporate language in vogue there.
\nIn the corporate sector, vulgar lan\u00adguage, though considered bad and unac\u00adceptable, is rampant. It is neither a sign of power nor of weakness to use profan\u00adity. It, however, significantly showcases the education and upbringing of an in\u00addividual. The sad breach of social norms and etiquette while communicating be\u00adfore any audience, of any type, is con\u00adduct unbecoming. It is best to choose the right and acceptable word while in com\u00admunication, both verbal and written.<\/p>\n
The writer is a senior banker and freelance contributor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sirajuddin Aziz Perhaps the steep decline in the \u2018quality\u2019 of written and spoken lan\u00adguage has never been as rapid as it has been in the past two to three de\u00adcades. Like the Titanic, anything of substance takes a very long time to sink. In the context of the development and decline of language and societies, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[13449],"class_list":{"0":"post-434481","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-article","7":"tag-sirajuddin-aziz"},"yoast_head":"\n