Beyond Words

Two events recently caught my eye…one the whole world was watching and the other was both watched and ridiculed. Both, however, involved a foreign language.

 

 

The first one I mention was the Olympics in Paris (oui oui!) and the second one was sorority rush (or “recruitment” as it’s now called) held on college campuses. French and Greek. Bonjour and yia sas! My dream would be to speak multiple languages but come to find out we all do! Kind of. And as for those Greeks, stay with me here; this isn’t a blog about frats or the French a little of both and something interesting I didn’t know.

 

 

Why are sororities and fraternities named after Greek letters? Good question!

 

The first fraternities were formed in 1750 at the College of William and Mary and were originally debate clubs and literary societies. Boy, have they changed! LOL. Additionally, the groups generally went by Latin names but in 1776, a group of students started their own club and, as a way of avoiding association with their predecessors and those known for partying (again, boy have things changed!), they chose to go Greek rather than Latin. Their thought was also that they wanted to be associated with Greece’s rich cultural history of intellectual innovation. This next part may surprise you.

 

 

 

The group’s motto was “Philosophia Biou Kubernetes,” which means “Love of Learning is the Guide to Life.” They later became known as Phi Beta Kappa and spread to other universities. I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of them as they are the most respected honor society in America. From there, things took a slight turn.

 

Students who literally didn’t make the grade for Phi Beta Kappa formed their own groups, established their own rules and traditions, and originally lived in separate dorms. Over time, these sororities and fraternities began to buy houses for their exclusive use and if you’ve seen any of these today, they are not your average house. They are notoriously thought to be snobbish and ridiculous, but membership can pay off big time as “brothers and sisters” can become life-long friends as well as professional contacts and colleagues. Many presidents, corporate leaders, and Fortune 500 executives are members.

 

 

 

I know this first-hand as truth be told, I’m Greek. Yeah yeah, I’m really Spanish with a tiny bit of French, but in college I pledged a sorority. Upon arrival at the University of Oklahoma, I knew nothing about sororities, soon learned Greek life is HUGE there, and somehow ended up in a really good house. I still have four really good friends who I travel with annually and who I consider “my people.” One of my closest friends in college was even Phi Beta Kappa!

 

Okay, enough about me and enough about fraternities and sororities. As for French and Greek though, many words and phrases you and I use on sometimes a daily basis are actually foreign. We know what we think we mean when we use them, but do we know their real meanings? It’s all Greek to me and maybe you, but not anymore!

 

Let’s go!

 

 

 

Some of these phrases are used without really knowing what they mean and many are very useful. Let’s look at a few, starting with the one that Mr. Berra kinda misused.

 

Déjà vu. French for “already lived.” A feeling of having previously experienced something and the experience of thinking a new situation had occurred before.

 

Ad nauseam. Latin for “to nausea.” To a sickening or excessive degree.

 

Quid pro quo. Latin for “this for that.” An equal exchange. Something given in return for something else; a favor for a favor.

 

E.G. Abbreviation for “exempli gratia” or “for example” in Latin.

 

I.E. Abbreviation for “id est” or “in other words” in Latin.

 

Alumnus and alumni. Latin male nouns.

Alumna and alumnae. Latin female nouns.

 

Faux pas. French for “false step.” A social blunder. A violation of accepted social norms.

 

Schmooze.  An English mangling of the Yiddish word shmues, which is apparently an adaptation of the Hebrew word shemuos for”tidings.” To talk casually, chat, network.

 

Vis-à-vis. French for “face-to-face.” Often also used as in comparison with and In relation to.

 

Shlep. Yiddish for “to tote.” To drag, carry with difficulty, or to travel slowly or awkwardly.

 

Je ne sais pas. French for “I don’t know.” “Je ne sais pas how the Olympic athletes do what they do but I loved watching most of them in Paris!”

 

Je ne sais quoi. French for a quality that cannot be described or named easily. Gotta admit, this is one of my favorites. I love using it when someone has a quality that is just hard to describe.

 

Persona non grata. Latin for “a person not welcome.” Unacceptable or unwelcome whether it’s someone at a party or someone walking on your lawn.

 

Piece de resistance. French for “a thing of strength or stamina.” A prized item in a collection.

 

A la carte. French for “according to the menu.” Individually priced items from a menu in a restaurant.

 

Coup de grace. French for “blow of mercy. “ A decisive finishing blow, act, or event such as an action that ends something that has been gradually getting worse.  Example:  My disastrous exam results dealt the coup de grâce to my university career.

 

RSVP. French.  Short for “répondez s’il vous plaît” or “”respond if you please.”  A phrase often used at the end of invitations meaning “please reply” as in please let us know if you’re coming or not.

 

Carte blanche. French for “blank document.” Unrestricted power to act at one’s discretion.

 

Status quo. Latin for “the state in which.” The current situation.

 

Mea culpa. Latin for “My guilt.” A formal acknowledgement of personal fault or error.

 

Carpe diem. Latin for “pluck the day.”  Seize the day. Seize the moment.

 

C’est la vie. French for “this is the life.”  Acceptance of a situation, often with a sense of resignation. Basically “that’s life!”

 

Et cetera. Latin for “and the rest.”  And so forth, and other things, all the rest.

 

Per se. Latin for “by itself.” In English, we use it to indicate that something is thought of independently, without any additional factors or context, in essence, or inherently. Example: Karen’s new restaurant is not expensive per se, but the menu can be pretty pricey.

 

Per diem. Latin for “per day.” Used generally for paid or calculated by the day.

 

Al fresco. Italian for “in the fresh” as in fresh air. Outdoor dining, painting, or activities of any kind.

 

Bona fide. Latin for “in good faith.”  Well-intentioned, fairly, genuinely, sincerely, authentic.

 

Ad hoc. Latin for “for this.” A solution designed for a specific purpose, problem, or task.

 

Hasta la vista. Spanish for “until we see (each other) again.”

 

And until we see each other again, have fun with these and let me know if I missed any!

 

Hasta la vista readers!

 

 

 

“Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere and sometimes in the middle of nowhere you find yourself.”

 

I’ve always loved that quote and have thought it in my head or out loud many times. I also love the above photo, taken in the middle of nowhere and highway on the way to Marfa, Texas.

 

 

 

Our daughter and I have a running joke consisting of simply saying to each other, “Welcome to Tempe.” It all stems from when she lived in Scottsdale and we’d venture out somewhere telling ourselves we didn’t need to use a GPS to get somewhere nearby or somewhere we’d been a million times but nine times out of 10 we’d seen that sign, which meant we went the wrong way once again. Truth be told, we are both severely directionally challenged.

 

 

 

For me personally this all came to light recently as I was visiting my mom and sister in a city I’m not totally familiar with. I’d take my sister’s car to my mom’s assisted living center but every time I had to use my GPS, which I affectionately call “Poopsie.” Poopsie got me there and back safely the first time, but, for some reason, on my second trip home the signal on my phone wasn’t working and I panicked just a bit. I literally thought to myself I’m going to have to call my brother-in-law to come get me so I could follow him home. Thankfully I smartened up and realized their car had a built-in voice navigation system. Alleluia! I got home safe and sound.

 

 

What’s sad is if I were my husband or the tens of thousands of other good navigators, I would have been able to get home simply by remembering how I got there. That doesn’t work for me and it certainly doesn’t work when Poopsie often takes me to places in different ways depending on traffic, road closures, and the likes. I can’t remember the route if that route changes!

 

I can say I always know my way around any city I’ve lived in, including shortcuts and back roads. I credit this to my days in TV news when we’d have to get somewhere every day all day and the photographers driving always figured out the easiest ways to do so. Which brings up another navigational issue: those who drive and those who ride.

 

 

I definitely fall in the latter camp as I’m not someone who always wants to drive. I’d actually prefer to just ride and enjoy the view. This is especially the case with my husband who travelled for 40+ years and as I previously mentioned, has an amazing sense of direction. I have no problem sitting in the passenger seat and letting someone else take the wheel. Trouble is, I don’t pay attention to where we’re going or how we’re getting there.

 

Come to find out there’s somewhat of a science behind all of this. Navigational skills are highly studied and I find it all fascinating.

 

 

Discovermagazine.com discovered the world is full of people like both my husband and me and those in there are “route followers” who are able to navigate by using landmarks and those who have “survey knowledge” and are able to build a sort of mental map of where they’re going. I’ll never forget the two of us driving around Switzerland and opting to drive up Furka Pass. IFKYK and we didn’t know! It was treacherous yet memorable drive and my husband navigated it like a pro while I was covering my eyes half of the time and holding a physical map to cover my window. He also did amazing driving in Scotland on the “wrong” side of the road.

 

 

Of the two, route following is considered easier and most people do pretty well at it once they’ve taken a route a few times. If I’m either, I’m definitely more of a landmark girl. Even though I’m of the age of someone who actually used printed maps in my younger years, I much prefer you tell me “Turn right at the 7-11 and then left at the park” rather then “go north until the 7-11 and then go east.”

 

 

How, though, does navigational ability develop and why do some people have it and some don’t. These have proved difficult for scientists to explain but research does suggest that to some extent, a good sense of direction is somewhat shaped by upbringing. And, if you ask many, it is also shaped by gender.

 

The classic gender stereotype is that men are good with directions but that women easily get lost. Sad to say in our marriage, this is definitely the case. Studies do show that navigational skills do have slight gender differences and that men tend to navigate by maps in their heads while ladies do so by routes and landmarks. Again, hubby and I are raising our hands on this one too. I’m happy to report, this all goes way back. And I mean waaaaay back.

 

 

Some swear by the evolutionary explanation of all this in that in hunter-gatherer days, the men hunted and the women gathered. Psycologytoday.com explains this further in that men as hunters chased game across open spaces so they needed a good sense of the lay of the landmarks, resulting in their brains evolving to navigate by mental maps. But women as gatherers collected fruits and veggies. Since plants remain n the same location, female brains evolved to navigate by routes and landmarks.

 

 

This all makes total sense, right and it may be accurate, but there are plenty of men who are bad at directions and plenty of women you are good at it. Mental mappers boast hallmarks of good navigators as they can estimate how far they’ve traveled, read and remember maps, and learn routes easily. A University of Florida study also found that better navigators are also good at using alternate strategies so that when they find themselves in a new situation, they’re better able to find their way out and around.

 

Two psychologists, Nora Newcombe and Steven Weisberg also discovered individual navigational skills can depend on actual personality traits. They first looked at motivation and found that those who performed poorly did so because they weren’t motivated to learn the layout. I get that. But, most of us do have a strong incentive and desire not to get lost.

 

Next, they considered anxiety and found that some are bad at directions because they get nervous and feel apprehensive when they need to get themselves somewhere they’ve never been. I get that too.

 

Newcombe and Weisberg then examined cognitive abilities and then personality factors including openness, extraversion, and conscientiousness…all of which contribute to a good sense of direction. Having a high level of curiosity and new experiences, an outgoing nature and high level of energy, and a diligence and determination to get things done are often the makings of a good navigator. As for me, I’m just the third one. And that’s okay.

 

 

The research team concluded that those who are good at navigating shouldn’t assume everyone is and if they’re not, they’re flawed and those who get easily lost need to remember there’s nothing wrong with them and they are definitely not alone in this.

 

What about using and relying on GPS? Yes, it’s a good thing cuz it finds the way for you but studies show the more you use it, the worse your skills to navigate get.

 

 

So, what’s a navigation failure like myself to do? One suggestion is to pay attention to compass direction and I will say I do have my version of a mental directional map in that I picture the eastside mountains in my hometown or the westside lake in my current home as well as where the sun sets and rises. From  there I can picture if I’m going north or south somewhere. I also try to remember that on the interstate, east/west highways are generally even numbers and north/south ones are odd numbers and the placement of the exit numbers above them indicate the exit will either be on the left or the right. It doesn’t always work, but Poopsie does and if by chance I see “Welcome to Tempe” sign, I’ll drive away as it’s a great place to end up!