24 | October | 2013 | Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss

Tell us about a time you couldn’t quite get your words or images to express what you wanted to express. What do you think the barrier was? For bonus points, try again.

Photographers, artists, poets: show us EXPRESSION.

Nera

“Look Mrs. Human, I am expressing myself.”

“Nera you are always expressing yourself. I always get the message when you have something on your nine lives.”

“I thought this would be a good idea to start your blog, this is my expressive expression,” although I think she was just asking when do I get the next tuna fish meal.

To carry on, there are more times I do not get my words or images to express what I want, that it would be easier to write about when it succeeds.

What the barrier was/is/will always be: my character, my inability to say what I want to say in a clear, cool way that people know what I am aiming for. First of all I generally have to express it in a language that I did not grow up with. Everyone around here speaks German Swiss German which seems to have at least two or three words for the same thing. It is not even a written language, and just exists in speech, although I stand corrected. The Swiss can and do write Swiss German, but it is a free for all, a do it yourself according to which dialect you happen to speak. A simple example is the word for “I”, in German “Ich”. A Swiss can write “I” or “Ig” according to how he says it.

This is just the tip of the ice berg. I love to see the messages the Swiss write to each other in Facebook in their dialect. It is almost a secret language, only understandable to the natives. I sometimes join in, one of the advantages being that there are no real rules, so just write what you say and hear, although I have a feeling that my Swiss friends just humour me when they write an answer. An English person writing the “everyone can join in” language of the Swiss Germans can be the cause of “huh” and “what is she talking about”.

Even in my mother tongue I would have problems actually saying what I mean, although as Mr. Swiss often reminds me “not everyone understands your humour”. At least it is meant as humour, although perhaps sometimes a little too much on the dark side. Watching the TV programme “East Enders” (a Cockney soap programme) with Mr. Swiss can be a grammatical exercise. “What did he say”, “what is he talkling about?” I do my best to explain but all languages change over the years and even I sometimes have problems in recognising the newest expressions.

As I have never received bonus points for a blog when promised, I will not try again as it is not worth the effort. There you have it I did not express what I really wanted to say, but I have already moved on. I do not even understand what the intended meaning is of those “bonus points”. Do I get a prize? Blogger of the month complete with a star showing my bonus points.

Then why should my words express what I really want to say. We have our politicians, governments, leaders who are telling us how good they are, convincing us with their words that they are the best we can have, especially when it is time for elections. They are the professionals, the ones that say how it is with clear arguments. Do we believe them? Of course, they are the professional figures of expression. After they are elected we realise they have already forgotten what they promised, what they expressed: no bonus points there.

As you can see, this blog is a typical example of how not to express yourself. I still do not know what I really wanted to say and my feline Nera has now fallen asleep to have an expressive dream of her meal of tuna fish this evening.

Daily Prompt: Express Yourself

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