Note- I published this one on my original blog on April 5, 2016. The following post is identical to what went up on that day save for some formatting adjustments to the footnotes.
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Hi,
Four down, four to go in round one. Those needing a refresher:
March 18- Introduction
March 28- First round, part one (of four)
March 30- First round, part two (of four)
Back on Friday to wrap up round one. It is a minor schedule adjustment
Tim
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*mamihlapinatapai / Yaghan noun
A silent acknowledgment and understanding between two people, who are both wishing or thinking the same thing (and are both unwilling to initiate)
--vs--
*struisvogelpolitiek /Dutch noun
Literally, 'ostrich politics'. acting like you don't notice when something bad happens and continuing on regardless, as you normally would
Breakdown
An encounter of contrasting words- it appears their only shared quality is impossible spelling. The Yaghan(*) word requires two people acknowledging what must happen- and if it does, it will likely be out of the norm. On the other hand, the Dutch word requires just one person to continue doing what is already happening- there is no acknowledgment that something must change.
I suspect 'mamihlapinatapai' also holds a minor advantage here- if there was a 'home team' in this tournament, it would be it, for the concept of communicating across failures of translation might be best exemplified in this word that gets at 'silent acknowledgment and understanding'.
The associations I came up with during my deliberations were generally negative for both words. The Yaghan concept's bittersweet undertone- you've connected with someone and yet something remains to prevent the full blossoming of that connection- makes me think of a train that has pulled into the station but is not opening its doors.
It reminds me of receiving bad news, particularly in person. I recall a couple of recent instances where someone preparing to deliver bad news to me hesitated- and in that moment, I understood what was coming. The words only served to confirm the information just transmitted silently, perhaps through an uneasy shifting of the body or a defeated expression spreading out from the eyes. The reluctance to initiate the verbal portion of these conversations is entirely understandable.
There is also the angle of what it is like when the connection you perceive to exist is not there at all. For example, there are always plays during my basketball team's games where the ball goes sailing out of bounds because one person, thinking a mutual understanding was established with a teammate, did what he thought was silently agreed upon with the other- only to find that the teammate cut left as the ball sailed right.
The Dutch word carries less of an emotional component. Although it comments on individual action, the root cause of the action is drawn from an observation on the dynamics of society and the roles citizens play within it. There is an undercurrent of powerlessness, I think, or perhaps a comment about disempowerment, in the ease of relating to the idea that one can continue along as if nothing is wrong despite feeling just the opposite.
I joked in my preview that anyone can easily mispronounce 'ostrich' as 'office'. That comment partly stemmed from a recollection of how my group communicated vacation time when I began my first office job. One day, I stood up to leave and wished a colleague a pleasant evening (*).
The response- 'Oh, I'll be back in a week- I'm going on vacation.'
It was the first I'd heard of it and I just could not get over how weird it was. This colleague and I often worked together on projects so this revelation impacted me directly. I lacked the confidence back in those days to trust my instincts, though, so instead of identifying this as a manifestation of a broader problem, I automatically thought I was somehow defective. I assumed that I did not quite understand 'the company culture' and figured, over time, that I would eventually 'get it'.
I fell in line quickly and began taking my own vacation days with as little fanfare as I could muster (*).
Eventually, my confidence at work grew and I acknowledged that my own participation in this communication method was a clear example of 'struisvogelpolitiek' (although I did not know this word at the time). When the opportunity to address this norm in my group presented itself, I chose to speak of it openly and worked on ways to change it.
What I learned from the experience was the importance of simply acknowledging when something was wrong. This is particularly important if the culture motivates people to modify their behavior in order to 'fit in' since those trying to fit in are very likely to simply choose to avoid questioning practices that intuitively feel wrong. Until someone else acknowledges something is wrong, it is unlikely that any individual will do so on their own.
Most adults instinctively know what is right and what is wrong. They know the difference when a problem requires patience and when a problem requires a solution. The challenge is that hostile or simply unfamiliar environments make us hesitate and we become used to not questioning. Eventually, it becomes our default mode of operation. The toughest step to get past this is always the initial one.
So, where does that leave us in the context of this contest? At the start of my deliberation, I thought these two words were dissimilar. What I am starting to see now, however, is that, in a way, 'mamihlapinatapai' possesses the power to defeat a real-life case of 'struisvogelpolitiek'. As long as two people can find each other and reach an understanding of what needs to happen next, the challenge of ostrich politics is a manageable one.
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*vacilando / Spanish verb
Traveling when the experience itself is more important than the destination
--vs--
*meraki /Greek adjective
Pouring yourself wholeheartedly into something, such as cooking, and doing so with soul, creativity, and love
Breakdown
In sports, a team not rated highly but nevertheless a candidate for surprising better-decorated teams is known as a 'sleeper'. Generally, sleeper teams do poorly in league settings but occasionally beat more capable opponents due to how their particular strengths can take advantage of a more highly-regarded opponent's weaknesses. Even the weakest scissors can slice up the toughest paper, I guess.
But sometimes in MARCH MADNESS, a team that everyone fancies as a 'sleeper' has the misfortune of facing an opponent that is identical to it in every way. This negates the possible advantages that come from having differentiated skills than your opponent and generally makes the encounter a mere formality.
Unfortunately, I think that is all we have here. I really like the Spanish word but the Greek opponent encompasses the traveling concept in a broader, fuller definition. To travel with the experience being more important than the destination- is that not the very idea of pouring yourself into something?
Quarterfinal matchup #3- 'mamihlapinatapai' --vs-- 'meraki'
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Four down, four to go in round one. Those needing a refresher:
March 18- Introduction
March 28- First round, part one (of four)
March 30- First round, part two (of four)
Back on Friday to wrap up round one. It is a minor schedule adjustment
Tim
******************************************************************
*mamihlapinatapai / Yaghan noun
A silent acknowledgment and understanding between two people, who are both wishing or thinking the same thing (and are both unwilling to initiate)
--vs--
*struisvogelpolitiek /Dutch noun
Literally, 'ostrich politics'. acting like you don't notice when something bad happens and continuing on regardless, as you normally would
Breakdown
An encounter of contrasting words- it appears their only shared quality is impossible spelling. The Yaghan(*) word requires two people acknowledging what must happen- and if it does, it will likely be out of the norm. On the other hand, the Dutch word requires just one person to continue doing what is already happening- there is no acknowledgment that something must change.
*Yaghan is a language that originated somewhere in present-day Chile. According to Wikipedia (aka FACT) there is one native speaker remaining. One! I wonder if this one remaining person is more likely to practice 'struisvogelpolitiek'- possibly through ignoring the impending death of the language- or 'mamihlapinatapai'- since there are no other native speakers around for this person to communicate verbally with, silent understanding might be all that remains.
I suspect 'mamihlapinatapai' also holds a minor advantage here- if there was a 'home team' in this tournament, it would be it, for the concept of communicating across failures of translation might be best exemplified in this word that gets at 'silent acknowledgment and understanding'.
The associations I came up with during my deliberations were generally negative for both words. The Yaghan concept's bittersweet undertone- you've connected with someone and yet something remains to prevent the full blossoming of that connection- makes me think of a train that has pulled into the station but is not opening its doors.
It reminds me of receiving bad news, particularly in person. I recall a couple of recent instances where someone preparing to deliver bad news to me hesitated- and in that moment, I understood what was coming. The words only served to confirm the information just transmitted silently, perhaps through an uneasy shifting of the body or a defeated expression spreading out from the eyes. The reluctance to initiate the verbal portion of these conversations is entirely understandable.
There is also the angle of what it is like when the connection you perceive to exist is not there at all. For example, there are always plays during my basketball team's games where the ball goes sailing out of bounds because one person, thinking a mutual understanding was established with a teammate, did what he thought was silently agreed upon with the other- only to find that the teammate cut left as the ball sailed right.
The Dutch word carries less of an emotional component. Although it comments on individual action, the root cause of the action is drawn from an observation on the dynamics of society and the roles citizens play within it. There is an undercurrent of powerlessness, I think, or perhaps a comment about disempowerment, in the ease of relating to the idea that one can continue along as if nothing is wrong despite feeling just the opposite.
I joked in my preview that anyone can easily mispronounce 'ostrich' as 'office'. That comment partly stemmed from a recollection of how my group communicated vacation time when I began my first office job. One day, I stood up to leave and wished a colleague a pleasant evening (*).
*Probably not true, technically- I probably said 'see ya' or just grunted in this person's general direction.
The response- 'Oh, I'll be back in a week- I'm going on vacation.'
It was the first I'd heard of it and I just could not get over how weird it was. This colleague and I often worked together on projects so this revelation impacted me directly. I lacked the confidence back in those days to trust my instincts, though, so instead of identifying this as a manifestation of a broader problem, I automatically thought I was somehow defective. I assumed that I did not quite understand 'the company culture' and figured, over time, that I would eventually 'get it'.
I fell in line quickly and began taking my own vacation days with as little fanfare as I could muster (*).
*It is always risky to stretch my own personal experience and label it 'the norm' but in comparing notes with others, it seems like weird little behavior observations are made in all kinds of workplaces. One I hear a lot about involves coworkers walking around the office without greetings or even eye contact, occasionally colliding with willfully unseen colleagues. Chuck Klosterman cited this very phenomenon as a general office truth on a podcast with Bill Simmons several weeks ago while they discussed Chip Kelly's impact with the Philadelphia Eagles. In short, he speculated on a remote possibility that Kelly hurt his players' feelings by not being consistently warm and friendly in the team's hallways.
Eventually, my confidence at work grew and I acknowledged that my own participation in this communication method was a clear example of 'struisvogelpolitiek' (although I did not know this word at the time). When the opportunity to address this norm in my group presented itself, I chose to speak of it openly and worked on ways to change it.
What I learned from the experience was the importance of simply acknowledging when something was wrong. This is particularly important if the culture motivates people to modify their behavior in order to 'fit in' since those trying to fit in are very likely to simply choose to avoid questioning practices that intuitively feel wrong. Until someone else acknowledges something is wrong, it is unlikely that any individual will do so on their own.
Most adults instinctively know what is right and what is wrong. They know the difference when a problem requires patience and when a problem requires a solution. The challenge is that hostile or simply unfamiliar environments make us hesitate and we become used to not questioning. Eventually, it becomes our default mode of operation. The toughest step to get past this is always the initial one.
So, where does that leave us in the context of this contest? At the start of my deliberation, I thought these two words were dissimilar. What I am starting to see now, however, is that, in a way, 'mamihlapinatapai' possesses the power to defeat a real-life case of 'struisvogelpolitiek'. As long as two people can find each other and reach an understanding of what needs to happen next, the challenge of ostrich politics is a manageable one.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
*vacilando / Spanish verb
Traveling when the experience itself is more important than the destination
--vs--
*meraki /Greek adjective
Pouring yourself wholeheartedly into something, such as cooking, and doing so with soul, creativity, and love
Breakdown
In sports, a team not rated highly but nevertheless a candidate for surprising better-decorated teams is known as a 'sleeper'. Generally, sleeper teams do poorly in league settings but occasionally beat more capable opponents due to how their particular strengths can take advantage of a more highly-regarded opponent's weaknesses. Even the weakest scissors can slice up the toughest paper, I guess.
But sometimes in MARCH MADNESS, a team that everyone fancies as a 'sleeper' has the misfortune of facing an opponent that is identical to it in every way. This negates the possible advantages that come from having differentiated skills than your opponent and generally makes the encounter a mere formality.
Unfortunately, I think that is all we have here. I really like the Spanish word but the Greek opponent encompasses the traveling concept in a broader, fuller definition. To travel with the experience being more important than the destination- is that not the very idea of pouring yourself into something?
Quarterfinal matchup #3- 'mamihlapinatapai' --vs-- 'meraki'
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