------------------------------------------------------------ Word use, (circumlunar), 08/11/2018 ------------------------------------------------------------ I was at the grocery store grabbing some dish washer detergent and automatic transmission fluid (my car leaks a bit, it's a short and boring story.) As I was walking out to my car, I overheard some folks that had checked out before me talking about getting their groceries into their vehicle. This is the phrase I heard: "You done put that <indistinct> back in the car, now we ain't got no room for nothin'." Being human, I immediately set to work passing judgement on these people based on their manner of speech. I'm sorry to have to admit it, but I feel some pride in the fact that I at least realize that I'm a prejudiced jerk at times, and that I largely keep my judgements to myself. As I got into my vehicle, pondering on my false sense of superiority, I started to think about the phrase these people had turned so casually, and which I never would have considered uttering: "we ain't got no room for nothin'" I can't fault them for the use of the word "ain't," even though it was roundly denied me when I was a youth. The word is now a formal and officially recognized part of language (whatever that means), and is even a part of my StarDict dictionary that I use on the command line. It is colloquial, but *bing*, wake up Joey, the people were *talking casually*, shouldn't their speech be conversational and colloquial? Why am I such a jerk sometimes, even if only in my own head? If I allow for colloquialisms (as if it were up to me anyway), then the whole phrase is excused. But as I sat there, I still wanted to understand the phrase. Of course, it was clear enough to me that they were saying "we don't have any room," but why was it clear? I broke it down like this: (we) (ain't got no) (room) (for nothin') (we) (don't don't have) (room) (for nothing) (we) (have) (room) (for nothing) "we have room for nothing" Which of course could also be stated: "We don't have room for anything." ...or perhaps any number of other ways. The phrase was clear to me because in spite of the needlessly complex construction, it was correct. (I should note here that none of this matters at all, and that I don't actually care all that much how the people around me choose to talk- I enjoy the variety- and finally, that I fully realize my own weakness in language, both written and spoken.) My point in sharing this brief experience is to point out that often when I pass judgement on people without much thought, my initial judgement is unfounded; and even when it is founded in some nonsensical thing, it is meaningless in terms of humanity, reality, sociality, and spirituality. Moreover, my judgements almost always myopically exclude a comparative picture of myself, my own faults and shortcomings; or even worse, they aggrandize my strengths to the point of nonsense. I really just wanted to get some dish washer detergent, but I guess our minds are always wandering this way or that. (side note: I believe Muphry's Law might apply to my situation here[1], and I therefore claim my right to be exused for any errors in my text.) [1] gopher://gopherpedia.com:70/0/Muphry's law