Language is a mirror that reflects the culture that produces
it.
In George Orwell’s 1984, one of the goals of Big Brother is
to reduce vocabulary because a broad vocabulary can convey complex
thought. If you don’t want people to
think, limit their ability to communicate.
Part of the complexity that language communicates is the
history of a people and the way they think, for example the taboos that they
have embraced. A common taboo among
humans is left-handedness.
About 10% of the world population are left-handed. Apparently that’s just the right number to
freak history right the heck out because it’s a taboo that is extremely common
in languages around the world.
This is kind of long, so the rest of the post is after the jump...
