You had something so important that we had to skip one meeting. A full report on what happened, please.
I was at a place, which uncannily resembled Hong Kong. Happy new lunar year, by the way!
Were you in Chinatown?
It could have been Hong Kong...
Is it the dream you had when we were supposed to be engaged in a discussion?
A dream could be the reality, and the reality a dream... Do you remember talking about Zhuangzi?
Just tell me what you think you did.
I said to my date...
A date! How can a date be more important than our talk?
I said to my date, "Let's get a bowl of noodles."
Sounds very exciting...
Then I heard, "I don't see any noodle place." I realized that I was seeing signs with the Chinese character, "noodles," everywhere, but...
Ha, you dated an illiterate!
Do you read all characters that have been invented so far?
I have been tackling the Egyptian hieroglyphs, lately, and the Mayan one is on my list.
Literacy is an interesting thing. In many societies, it was not encouraged, because the elite wanted exclusive access to knowledge and a means to control others, namely the illiterate majority.
But, illiteracy in a literate society is a great handicap. Ruth Rendell's "A Judgement in Stone" is about a murder committed because of illiteracy. The perpetuator is known at the very beginning, but the process which pushes her to that extreme action is the story.
Not every language has a writing system meant exclusively for it.
The Thai script is not only for the Thai language, but also for other lesser known ones in Thailand, and the Khmer script is for the Khmer language and other minor languages in Cambodia.
Just as many Slavic languages use the Cyrillic.
Any linguistic tie does not seem to be necessary. The non-Slavic languages of the former Soviet Republics use the Cyrillic, too.
The borrowed scripts have changed over time, depending on the culture of the politically dominant.
Swahili, the lingua franca of the east coast of Africa, used to be written with the Arabic script.
That's because of the extensive contact with the Arabian Peninsula. Nowadays, it is written using the Latin alphabet. The Persian language used to have its own script, but they switched to Arabic letters with a minor modification.
You can make political statements by changing the official script.
The Koreans and the Vietnamese have done away with the Chinese characters. Ideograms, such as the Chinese characters, are really convenient, though. They are visual, and hence, allow you to read faster.
The same message occupies much less space, compared to alphabets. Pictograms are even more efficient, but takes much more time to write.
Illiteracy may lead to murder and the writing system tells you who has the power.
And, unfamiliarity with a writing system can kill an infatuation. I bet you slurped the noodles loudly to get rid of your date!
I was at a place, which uncannily resembled Hong Kong. Happy new lunar year, by the way!
Were you in Chinatown?
It could have been Hong Kong...
Is it the dream you had when we were supposed to be engaged in a discussion?
A dream could be the reality, and the reality a dream... Do you remember talking about Zhuangzi?
Just tell me what you think you did.
I said to my date...
A date! How can a date be more important than our talk?
I said to my date, "Let's get a bowl of noodles."
Sounds very exciting...
Then I heard, "I don't see any noodle place." I realized that I was seeing signs with the Chinese character, "noodles," everywhere, but...
Ha, you dated an illiterate!
Do you read all characters that have been invented so far?
I have been tackling the Egyptian hieroglyphs, lately, and the Mayan one is on my list.
Literacy is an interesting thing. In many societies, it was not encouraged, because the elite wanted exclusive access to knowledge and a means to control others, namely the illiterate majority.
But, illiteracy in a literate society is a great handicap. Ruth Rendell's "A Judgement in Stone" is about a murder committed because of illiteracy. The perpetuator is known at the very beginning, but the process which pushes her to that extreme action is the story.
Not every language has a writing system meant exclusively for it.
The Thai script is not only for the Thai language, but also for other lesser known ones in Thailand, and the Khmer script is for the Khmer language and other minor languages in Cambodia.
Just as many Slavic languages use the Cyrillic.
Any linguistic tie does not seem to be necessary. The non-Slavic languages of the former Soviet Republics use the Cyrillic, too.
The borrowed scripts have changed over time, depending on the culture of the politically dominant.
Swahili, the lingua franca of the east coast of Africa, used to be written with the Arabic script.
That's because of the extensive contact with the Arabian Peninsula. Nowadays, it is written using the Latin alphabet. The Persian language used to have its own script, but they switched to Arabic letters with a minor modification.
You can make political statements by changing the official script.
The Koreans and the Vietnamese have done away with the Chinese characters. Ideograms, such as the Chinese characters, are really convenient, though. They are visual, and hence, allow you to read faster.
The same message occupies much less space, compared to alphabets. Pictograms are even more efficient, but takes much more time to write.
Illiteracy may lead to murder and the writing system tells you who has the power.
And, unfamiliarity with a writing system can kill an infatuation. I bet you slurped the noodles loudly to get rid of your date!
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