#language

Language is the source of misunderstandings. ↗

It was her last breakfast with Bapi, her last morning in Greece. In her frenetic bliss that kept her up till dawn, she’d scripted a whole conversation in Greek for her and Bapi to have as their grand finale of the summer. Now she looked at him contentedly munching on his Rice Krispies, waiting for the right juncture for launchtime. He looked up at her briefly and smiled, and she realized something important. This was how they both liked it. Though most people felt bonded by conversation, Lena and Bapi were two of a kind who didn’t. They bonded by the routine of just eating cereal together. She promptly forgot her script and went back to her cereal. At one point, when she was down to just milk, Bapi reached over and put his hand on hers. ‘You’re my girl,’ he said. And Lena knew she was. ↗

— Ann Brashares

#greece #language #contentment

Body language is a very powerful tool. We had body language before we had speech, and apparently, 80% of what you understand in a conversation is read through the body, not the words. ↗

— Deborah Bull

#before #body #body language #conversation #had

I did my first movie, 'The Mambo Kings,' in America without speaking the language. I learned the lines phonetically. I had an interpreter actually just to understand directions from my director. ↗

— Antonio Banderas

#america #did #directions #director #first

Music is a language - and language, at its finest, should be music. ↗

— T.L. Rese

#music #writing #music

Hay una estrella mas abierta que la palabra 'amapola'? Is there a star more wide open than the word 'poppy"? ↗

— Pablo Neruda

#nature #poetry #stars #words #nature

We cannot be too careful about the words we use; we start out using them and they end up using us. ↗

— Eugene H. Peterson

#theology

It is time for dead languages to be quiet. ↗