Language Skills

This is another repost* although I can't remember where I found the original quote. I have a sinking suspiscion that I'll be speaking like this by September.

*Yes, I'm being lazy today! Get over it. If you had the kind of day I had, you wouldn't feel like doing this either.

About nine years ago, as a young pup, I recall meeting a Programme Director from another organisation. Having just come back from years in a field office, she was gaunt from tropical diseases, and wrinkled and weathered from years of sun exposure. Her clothes looked like they were from another decade. She wore no jewellery and no make up. She spoke slowly and deliberately, using simple words and short sentences. No jargon. No sophistication. Plain speaking. Every few minutes, she would pause and check that you got her point. I recall another colleague saying derisively, "You can tell when they have been in the field too long. They lose touch".

I can already feel my own verbal abilities atrophying, since I'm often reduced to simple words, wild gesticulation, and a bizarre game of charades. How does one communicate "suicide vest" entirely with hand gestures?