TheWordWire.com: Slang in Any Language: I Ain't Lyin'

Slang in Any Language: I Ain't Lyin'

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PostSecretis an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secretsanonymously on one side of a postcard. From deeply intimate feelings tomischievous deeds, new disclosures from all over the world are postedevery Sunday. I wanted to share this totally tubular confession fromtoday's update.

Slang is like an inside joke you share with your culture — An inside joke you have to look at from the outside to find funny.

Here's an example of the power of slang: TheProgram Director of one of the radio stations I used to work for setaside two hours each week for people without big record label representation to bring in a CD and plead theircase for airplay. One day I overheard parents of Japaneserappers pitching a song to her in English and Kanji. They were lookingto leverage success they'd found in a niche market into a broader musiccareer at home. Their service: translating American rap recordsfor a Japanese audience. Their expertise of both cultures provided anecessary bridge. For example, the father explained, the literaltranslation of "busting a cap" makes the Japanese think the song isabout opening a bottle.

I ain't lyin'.

And if I were inclined to lie, think of how many ways my deceit could be described. I would only understand the expressions in languages that I speak, of course, but every culture has them. One night I was out with friends in New Orleans and met a man from France. He'd lived in the U.S. for a few years, and his English was quite good considering he spoke none when he stepped off the plane. During the course of our conversation, I tied my hair up in a knot.

"Your hairs were grown to be down," he said. I laughed and continued to adjust my makeshift up-do. "You think I'm throwing flour on you, don't you?" he asked. The look on my face must have told him he needed to explain. He told me that throwing flour on someone is the literal translation of a French expression that means "to lie."

"Oh, I get it," I said. "You mean you're not pulling my leg." He looked at me as if I'd said something as ridiculous as "throwing flour" and searched his vocabulary for the right words.

"No, it means..." he paused and rolled his eyes back like he was looking in his brain for the word he couldn't remember. Then it came to him: "It means I'm not bullsh*tting you."

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