It will not go over well to use five dollar words when speaking to someone who has a third grade education and uses subject verb disagreement regularly.  You must assess the skill level of your audience and adjust your talk, gesture and mannerisms accordingly.

Southernnesss

You can take the girl out of the South, but you cannot take the South out of the girl.  I am frequently chatting on the phone with people from my childhood.  If anyone is in the room, they chuckle.  I wonder why. Then I hear myself.  I am reverting back to the vernacular without even realizing it.  Words that I normally pronounce as one syllable now have five.  And likewise, words with six syllables suddenly have no more than three. 

But it is a talent.  It has become so much a part of me that it is natural.  When I finish the conversation, I can hear myself (on the rare occasion I am listening to myself) go back to normal speech and mannerisms.  I have noticed when talking on the phone to  a southern friend, my arms are waving wildly to help me describe things and talk to them properly.

The Certifications And Degree Thing

I have worked in a profession with advanced degrees, multiple certifications and licenses.  However, I never post any of them on a wall where I am employed.  Why?  Because, in the deep South, people respond better to me not having a preconceived notion about me.  They tend to think I am uppity if they see the items.  I guess it is the area.

Plus someone once pointed out to me that if you know your stuff (in a particular body of study), you don’t need to post your credentials, or even state them.  People can tell if you are full of fluff.  In other words, other professionals can tell if you walk the walk and talk the talk.

Too Much Information

I have also learned that too much great information to me or you may quickly overwhelm or overload someone not adept in a field of study.  If you overload them, they shut down or linger on a particular thought.  They do not understand 80% of what you say after that.

Silence Is Golden

A constant rattling of information not only alienates your listener, but makes them feel you are not addressing their concerns at all.  And you are not concerned about them.  How about saying something, then being quiet.  Let them give feedback to help you know if you can safely proceed or if they are lost.  Force yourself to hush.  You will be amazed at what you were previously not hearing.

Are You Listening

Are you, in fact, listening? Not only to the customer, but to yourself.  How do you come across?  If you have never taped yourself, you should.  Most computers come with a built in camera.  Try taping yourself and play it back.  You will be utterly shocked at how differently you are coming across from what you think you are.  Better yet, you are able to alter your persona for the better.

Today my maid who is nearing 50 herself is working in three homes. Her take home pay is about 4700 Indian Rupees, equivalent to approximately $105 per month. Apart from this, she gets her two square meals, and clothes as well as sumptuous breakfast. She is also entitled to extra monies if we have guests. This is almost double the amount she is entitled to under the State’s laws.

Her daughter is a grown up, i.e., about 30 years old. She is educated in vernacular language. She cannot find a job. Everybody wants computer literate and this girl doesn’t know English, so she cant really learn much in computers. There are very few jobs still available in vernacular language. These are mostly related to teaching.

Effectively, the girl is unemployed. She is no longer comfortable working as a maid as she feels her education should offer her better prospects. So she has become a liability. This only perpetuates their position in the society, because the girl would not like to work like her mother, and jobs that require her to be equipped with skills and computer knowledge are not for her. If it were a rare case, it could have been ignored. But it is a very common situation amongst the urban poor in India. I did have a few colleagues who were educated in vernacular and they fared quite well. But that is rare, and much of it has to do with the same caste people being helped to come up.

So is education in vernacular really helping? It is alright for people who have everything to promote and express their love for their mother tongue and lament that a language is being neglected, or not enough is being done to promote it. Unfortunately, the only way it is being promoted is through movies, and education of poor, because even those who are crying that the language is being neglected prefer to send their children to English mediums schools so that their children’s future is secure.  In a country that does not have much funds, is it worth spending on promoting a language rather than let nature take its course, and promote a language that feeds, clothes, and shelters people? Does it really alleviate poverty? I for one don’t think so.

Converse means, among other things, to talk with another or others, and to exchange views and opinions by talking. When people use the word conversate they could instead simply use the word “talk” or “talking”.

Some people realize the word is not correct English but couldn’t care less. As long as they understand and are understood, it is their opinion that the dictionary is behind the times, not them. After all, the word bling was added in 1999 to describe flashy jewelry and the word google was added in 2001 to describe a search for something on the internet so it’s not so far fetched to imagine that the word conversate could be added as another way to say… well, converse.

Some people honestly don’t know that conversate isn’t a word but it’s important for them to realize that when they use it they are put at a disadvantage in their school or professional lives. It is unlikely that they will be corrected but you can rest assured that they will be judged by their apparent inability to use words correctly.

If using any word incorrectly has become a habit it’s not too difficult to overcome the practice of using it. The dictionary is a good place to start but asking for advice or help from others is also beneficial in compelling you to find other ways to say what you mean and mean what you say.