8/21/07

Counter Man at Joe's Coffee. He thanked me and said something like, "Aahw". He laughed a little.

You know, "Aww" is a common response, but the inflection is aways different. The Vietnamese language uses tones to impart different meanings on words. The English language needs something like that. This guy did a falling tone which seemed to suggest he found it interesting. Many women do a rising tone which suggests that they are touched or they think the action was very sweet. I was talking with a friend and he was telling me about about a shouting match he got into with some Buckhead Boys where they only said, "Fuck you" to each other. They went on for a minute or two and the meaning of "Fuck you" changed as they continued. Now, just think how helpful it would be if we had little special characters that would help noodle out these different meanings if we were to read a transcript of the encounter.

Man One: Fuck You!
Man Two: Fuck You‘!
Man One: Fu†ck You!
Man Two: Fu‡ck You!
Man One: Fu†ck Yo‡u!
Man Two: →Fuck You!
Man One: Fuck ¹ You!
Man Two: ¿Fuck You¿!
Man One: FuÇk You!
Man Two: Fuck YoÚ!
Man One: Fuckè You!
Man Two: Fuckè Yoù!
Man One: Fuckè Yöù!
Man Two: →þFuck Ýöù!
Man One: Meet me down at the pub.
Man Two: I'm buying!

That would be very helpful indeed!