remember how profanity was made out to be the worst thing in the world when you were a kid and then when you grew up everyone was like “just kidding, nobody actually cares, we were just doing that so we could yell at you”
i was ringing up a winter hat for a man the other day and i said “oh, it’s so cute! i love the pom-pom on the top.” and he smiled and agreed and a few seconds later he picked the hat out of the bag and said “you called this a pom-pom?” and i said yes, that’s what i call them, and he explained that he was still learning english before he touched the hat again and said “pom-pom“ in a fascinated voice
pure
words that aren’t important for communication but which are important for FEELS
Storytime: when I was in my early twenties, I moved to a country whose language was not my own. I did have a reasonable grasp of it, but I clearly lacked a lot of vocabulary, and my accent wasn’t amazing. There was a small food shop down from my apartment, and the owner noticed quickly that I struggled with the names of foods. From that point on, every time I went and he checked out my bags, he did it slowly and pointing out loud every item he checked. “One carrot, two apples, a bag of pasta…” I can never thank him enough for how much I learnt from such a small gesture.
An group of elderly Vietnamese men come into my Starbucks a couple times a week and the other day one said to me “could I have-“ and mimed. I said “oh, a straw?” And handed it to him. He said “this is… a straw? Straw. Thank you.”
i went to italy with a tour group when i was younger, and our roman tour guide spoke english very well but ofc there were specific words she didn’t know that we taught her, one of which was “glittering.” that same day she learned that word we had a beautiful view of the mediterranean sea. we were leaned over the rail w/ her to take in the sun playing off the water, and me n @lauroara saw her nod and whisper to herself, “glittering.”
