A few days ago, my Christian friend wrote on his Facebook status that he considered himself a "ninja". If you know anything about Christians, one of the commands our God tells us is "Do not murder" and to "love your neighbour as yourself". So, I commented that he could very well slay the devil, but not his fellow man. Unbeknownst to me, the word "ninja" has now evolved to mean "someone who is skilled in something". Since he attends meetings constantly, he perceives himself to be a "ninja" at meetings!
I was not amused. I live in Asia. A ninja is a Japanese assassin. We don't think of ninjas as nice people. Even anime portrays ninjas as ruthless assassins. Ninjas are ordinary people during the day, but turn into assassins at night. Dressed entirely in black with a black scarf tied over the nose and mouth, a ninja sneaks around in the dark to seek out his target. Armed with small lethal weapons, one throw of a spiked disc will kill a person on impact. In short, in Asia, ninja = murderer.
Sometimes we need to go back to the root of the word before using it in everyday communication. The root meaning of the word can change the listener's understanding of what you are trying to say. As in this case. My friend was making a casual statement that he just has too many meetings to attend that he should now be called a "ninja" in meetings. I, the recipient of the message, understood the message to be that he has now become an "assassin" of some sort. What a vast difference!
Well, we can't please everyone, but we can learn to use simple words in English, or whatever language we use daily, to communicate simple ideas. Less jargon, less confusion.
Happy learning!
No comments:
Post a Comment