Language is a curious thing. I often wonder to myself how I managed to think before I could understand English (the only language I feel I have an adequate grasp of so far). When you think, you tend to think in a language. Not just that you find it easiest to articulate thoughts in a certain language, but when you're thinking, the thoughts organise themselves in the language you're most comfortable with. Anyway, that's what I sometimes find. Douglas Adams once said something about a race of people who found it impossible to feel sad, simply because they didn't have a word for it, or something like that.
I was walking down Pitt Street earlier today and I was invited into a sports shop, where four Wallabies were signing things. I thought to myself "That might be fun", but then realised I was thinking it in an English Accent, and that that accent might not be the best one to have in a room with four Aussie internationals.
An apology to Ben and Emma - really I should have had them sign a St George's Flag. I'll do better if the opportunity arises again.
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Perhaps when we were too young to thing 'in a language' because we didn't know one we had a reduced mental capacity as a result. Being unable to articulate thoughts, much like an animal, perhaps means that our childhood is spent trying to raise our level on consiousness above that of the household pet? If raised by a pack of dogs (or wolves, if you're a Jungle Book fan) would a baby grow up with a mental capacity limited to that of it's rearing parents because it never learnt to articulate thoughts at the level attained by most (chavs excepted) humans?
Go live in a kangaroo pouch to see if you can revert yourself to the level of consciousness of a baby/animal. :-) Would you develop the ability to bound around the Australian outback with great ease? Who knows...
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