Today’s prompt: Khalil Gibran once said that people will never understand one another unless language is reduced to seven words. What would your seven words be?
Since I send 800 words out into the world nearly every day, I obviously would not be a fan of a 7-word vocabulary!
But I think if I had to reduce my interactions to seven words, they’d probably be:
“You ok?”
Because I like to check in on the people I love.
“Want help?”
Because I like to help.
“Love you!”
Because I say this every day.
“Sure!”
Because I like to say yes whenever I can.
I’d really like to be able to add, “Thanks!” to the list too because I say that often.
But perhaps I could rely on non-verbals for that one; a good smile can replace, “Hi!” and “Thanks!” pretty well.
Thank you
Love you
Yes
No – because sometimes that has to be said!
Sorry
Love you
You ok?
I will
No
I like the way these words look as well, like a funnel or an upside down triangle!
This is a fascinating question because my nonverbal son (6) has a primitive Talker that allows him 32 words to communicate with us. He started with a board of only 8 to learn how to use the talker, and almost everything could be covered with those 8 words. He has clever word combinations to tell us what he wants and needs. Some of my thoughts about what words I’d keep are based on his board:
yes
no
love
help
want
you
more
Oh, is this one of those touch board speaking devices? My cousin’s little guy has one that has pictures, and then when you press the picture, the iPad says the word. I forget what it’s called!
Yes! My son is still in the process of getting a real one. He has to have one to prove to insurance that he should be able to get one, so we’re proving ability on a really old broken device we managed to find. We call all such devices talkers, even though they each have their own names.
Hi, I love you, please, thank you.
So people are never going to understand each other because this will never happen. The 7 words are: this guy is messing with all ya’ll.