What a wonderful world of words!() | Ryugo Yanagimachi | TEDxSaku
Translator: John Kriz Reviewer: Reiko Bovee I would like to take about five minutes of your time today. I have an idea that I hope to share with you all. My idea concerns the power of words. What I mean by the power of words, is I think you all understand vaguely, but our world is full of words, right? There are words everywhere. You see words when you open a book, and when you read those words, they spiral around and around in your mind. As such, words are abundant in our world, and though they are found in many places, I've come to think that we aren't aware of the power of the words that we use. Specifically, words have a great number of qualities to them, don't they? Yet we're usually only concerned with the meanings of the words themselves. We spend our lives thinking only of meanings. If instead of a word's meaning, we look at its shape and sound, we can discover new and interesting things about the words we use. I'd like to share today a few things that I've discovered in this way. First, I'd like to share with you all a word that has a fascinating shape. It's composed of two characters, and that word is "shiri (buttocks in Japanese)." If any of you have a pen and paper, go ahead and get those out and have a go at writing it. Buttocks, right everyone? If you write those two letters,し(shi)り(ri) close together, with large, slow strokes, it really looks like a butt, doesn't it? (Laughter) It's true, please check for yourselves, the word looks like a butt! That was shiri, a word with a funny shape. Next, we don't have much time so now I want to share a funny sounding word. Yes, a funny sounding word. We've looked at buttocks, so now let's think about "oppai (breasts in Japanese)." (Laughter) Yes, breasts. How about we break "oppai" down into three parts? "O," "ppa," and "i." Firstly, "o." Let's all say this out loud: 1, 2, 3, (With audience): O! It's not a long "o," however. We start by opening our mouths wide, but we cut the sound short. Think of it like all of this word's energy compressing into a single point, right? Next is "ppa." All together now! (With audience): Ppa! Yes, thank you. Many in the audience may know that "ppa" is a plosive sound. Because of this, it takes the energy from the "O" and explodes it out all at once. Think of it like that, okay? Now let's move on to the last letter, "i." Let's say "iii," and when you do, look at the face of the person next to you. (With audience): III! When you say it, don't you naturally just start smiling? It's wonderful, isn't it! Saving up energy with "O," releasing with "ppa," smiling with "i." Isn't that an amazing word? It's a magical word, everyone! "Breasts" is a magical word! (Applause) "Buttocks" and "breasts": these are a couple of "catchy" phrases, but so long as you understand my point I greatly appreciate it. Words, when we stop thinking of them as just their meanings, and start thinking about their shape, sound, and perhaps even other qualities, we can begin to see the power that is sleeping in all of them. I said this at the beginning, but our world is full of words. There are words in all sorts of places. On the advertisements in trains, on everyone's name tags, even the large text on the back, there are words everywhere. When we take a moment to think this way, it's so interesting, isn't it? When we think this way can't we make new discoveries? In this way I want to find power in words. Is that alright, everybody? Our world is full of words. That's right, the world is overflowing with words. The world - let's talk about English for a moment. What is "the world" in English? (Audience): World. And what about "word?" (Audience): Word. World. Word. Together now! (With audience): World. Word. Ah! They're so similar! (Laughter) (Applause) Yes everyone, that's right, the world is full of words! Just now we've all looked at the words we use everyday and discovered new things. If this has helped even a little to make your life a little more fulfilling, I'm very happy to have been of help. That's all I have for today. Thank you very much. (Applause)