You Say Cup, I Say Mug

“There is nothing in human endeavor to which language is not connected.” This compelling article talked about the effect that language has on your thinking and perception of the world around us, and used fantastic examples in time, intent and space to do so.

We have talked about how our language influences the way in which we perceive poems or other literature, but this reading extended that to the belief that it actually affects the way in which we perceive everything. People of different languages describe activities and daily aspects differently, meaning that their perception of these activities also differs.

My favourite example was Justin Timberlake’s wardrobe incident, as how we describe the issue determines the extremity of Timberlake’s punishment despite everyone viewing the exact same incident, illustrating the influence that language has.

I found myself concerned with the scenario depicting Indonesian perception of time, as the author claimed that viewers of the photos saw "no difference between the photos." Although Indonesians have little description of time, surely they can recognise differences in these images. The information provided seems dubitable.

This article has furthered my knowledge on language, and I look forward to ameliorating this understanding.