REFLECTIONS- "Growing up in the 50's" Chapter 15- A Second Language

Nostalgia Tidbit : In Central Florida in the 50’s, we never heard anything about how important it was to learn a second language. Today, we all know how valuable it is in Florida as well as many areas of our country to understand Spanish. Our Hispanic population growth is tremendous and will continue at a steady pace. Back then, those of us who had learned another language thought we had “one up” on everybody else.

Chapter 15

A Second Language

(ig-pay   atin-lay)

To feel the need to learn a second language was not

even on my radar until some friends shared some

insight in to  a secretive way of verbally

communicating with each other so our parents and

strangers would have no idea what we were saying. It

was a language that even the name of it would make us

laugh.  “Pig Latin” was the new found method of

communication. Just in case you don’t know how Pig

Latin works, here you go.

The usual rules for changing English into Pig Latin are:

1.                        If a word begins with consonant sounds, move all the first consonant sounds to the end of the word and add “ay”. As follows:

bat     >  at-bay

door  >  oor-day

John  >  ohn-jay

2. For words that begin with vowel sounds (including silent consonants) you add the syllable “ay” to the end word. as follows:

I        >  I-ay

equal > equal-ay

honest> honest-ay (because the h is silent).

Anyway, you get the idea. We had our own second

language and probably felt it had been invented within

our own little group of friends. It was most fun to use

around the adults because we felt there was no way

they could ever know what we were saying. 

One day, a good buddy  and I were at the corner store 

and we went into our “second language” mode just to

test it out. “red-Fay    is-ay    uper-say  tupid-say 

which translates in to a not very nice “Fred is super

stupid.”

Fred looked at us with a sign of shock on his face. We

 laughed because we knew we had done it on our first

try…puzzled an adult with our second language.

After a moment, Fred replied. “ ou-yay    are-ya   ot-

nay  ooling-fay  e-may  which means (You are not

fooling me.)

We had to think about what he said for a moment to

decipher what he had actually said. 

At this point we had spent so much time learning to

speak Pig Latin that we had not perfected listening and

understanding…BUT…we got it! He was on to us!

Apparently this new second language of ours was more

widespread that we had known. After that lesson, we

tried to stay away from saying anything negative but

did enjoy being able to speak a language that most

others, especially adults, did not understand.

Even to this day “Pig Latin” works very well if you are

in a foreign country and need to stay away from

English. You will confuse the heck out of any rude

foreigners who know how to speak English. Try it!

 Also, if you are ever asked on a job application if you

speak a second language”? You can check “yes”! Ig-

pay   atin-lay.

I double dog dare you! You won’t get the job, but what

an interesting reaction you will receive!                                

 UST-JAY  OKING-JAY !

Did you get it?

Just a funny side note: While writing this story my PC “spell check” went crazy…..maybe one day even our computers will recognize Pig Latin!