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Found language
15 Feb 2022 16:17Oh, yikes. It's mid-February, and I haven't written a thing since well before the holidays. Again.
I wouldn't have known what to write about, either, but for a Twitter thread about language and its nuances.
English is problematic. It's the language of imperialism; that's how it ended up being spoken across much of the world. It's also a beautiful language, with some unique qualities, which borrowed a bewildering amount of words and such from all over the place and mixed them up into a unique blend. Native speakers tend to make fun of it (you probably know the saying), but it's not so simple.
As a kid, I expected to become a writer in my native tongue. Instead, I became one in my third, and not just because it granted me a vast potential audience. There was that, too, at first anyway, or at least that's what I told myself then.
But frankly? In recent years I tend to think of English more and more as my native tongue, even though it's not and never can be. But just as one can find family far from home, one can also find language, apparently.
So yes, I'm an English language writer, even though it's not the language I speak out loud on a daily basis. I'm not a writer in my own country and wouldn't want to be one. My culture, my real culture, is out here.
Thank you for having me.
I wouldn't have known what to write about, either, but for a Twitter thread about language and its nuances.
English is problematic. It's the language of imperialism; that's how it ended up being spoken across much of the world. It's also a beautiful language, with some unique qualities, which borrowed a bewildering amount of words and such from all over the place and mixed them up into a unique blend. Native speakers tend to make fun of it (you probably know the saying), but it's not so simple.
As a kid, I expected to become a writer in my native tongue. Instead, I became one in my third, and not just because it granted me a vast potential audience. There was that, too, at first anyway, or at least that's what I told myself then.
But frankly? In recent years I tend to think of English more and more as my native tongue, even though it's not and never can be. But just as one can find family far from home, one can also find language, apparently.
So yes, I'm an English language writer, even though it's not the language I speak out loud on a daily basis. I'm not a writer in my own country and wouldn't want to be one. My culture, my real culture, is out here.
Thank you for having me.
