Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Totally random thought...

So have you ever squeezed some ketchup onto a hamburger, or drizzled some chocolate sauce on an ice cream sundae, or squirted some lotion into your hand, and the shape it makes looks like it might mean something in another language? Like maybe Chinese or Arabic or Sanskrit... only you don't KNOW any Chinese or Arabic or Sanskrit, so you can't actually tell what it says? Because I squeezed some bath gel onto a loofah yesterday, and I'll be darned if it didn't look like it meant something. And I imagine that somewhere, halfway around the world, someone is squirting bath gel onto a loofah and seeing the word "hi" and wondering to themselves (in a language I don't understand) if that particular formation of bath gel means something in French or English or German...

And what about those articles of clothing with different kinds of writing on them? I think I have a shirt, buried somewhere in my dresser, with Japanese characters imprinted on the fabric. I suppose I shouldn't be afraid to wear it, but I'm always curious as to what those words on my shirt translate to. Is it something good? Something bad? Total nonsense? Last year I was in a shop in Miami that had some nice clothing imported from India. I found a shirt I really loved, only it was covered in Hindi. I just had this horrible premonition of wearing my Hindi-covered shirt out somewhere, running into someone who reads Hindi, and hearing them laugh as they explained that my shirt read, "please make fun of me -- I have no idea what this shirt says." So instead I just bought a plain cotton shirt and a skirt -- no writing. Maybe if clothing like that came with an accurate translation, then I'd be okay with buying it. Like a little card next to the price tag that says, "here's what these words mean." And if it was something like "peace love hope joy," okay, maybe THEN I'd buy it.

I just wish I knew what my bath loofah was trying to tell me...

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