Does your language define you?
The Sami people in the far north of Scandinavia have lots of words for snow.
- Soavli — Wet slushy snow
- Vahca — New snow
- Guoldu — Very fine snow that blows up from the ground when there is slight breeze
- Skavvi — Snow with an icy crust
Snow surrounds them, they really do have over 100 words for it.
I don’t talk much about snow
I have one word for it, I call it snow. It might go to the extent of describing it as powdery, or maybe a bit damn slippy, but that is it. Snow isn’t a big thing in my world.
But living in England I do have a lot of words for water.
- Is it a brook, a beck, a stream, a ditch, a canal, a river or an estuary?
- Is it raining, drizzling, a shower, a deluge or just a bit dreek?
An interesting theory
The theory of linguistic relativity states that the language we use affects our ideas, assumptions and behaviours. Language influences the way we think, and therefore the way we act.
Until I sat down to write this post I’d never thought about moarri — icy broken frozen snow that cuts the legs of reindeer. I’m not sure what I’d do about it. But if you tell me it is hammering down, I will look for my brolly.
Linguistic relativity at work
What is the language of your organisation? Do you talk about:
- Moving hard and fast
- Holding people accountable
- Hitting the numbers
Or are the soundbites…
- Understand the system
- Look at the data
- Playing the long game
We use language to describe concepts, tools, activities and behaviour. How does that language reflect the way we think about our businesses?
Which came first the language or the behaviour?
Does your language define your behaviour? Or does your behaviour define your language?
An interesting question — well I was sad enough to think so. Either which way, your language speaks volumes about you. What does it say about your organisation?
If you changed it would you break out of that moaari rut?
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I’m not sure I can answer your question about which comes first, but W.C. Fields said, “If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.” Does that help? :-)