Month: July 2018

maybe it would be easier just to get the app that corrects what you are trying to say? I started this to blog to get a readership and see if there were enough out there interested in what I had to say. I do know that so many are on their phones text not talking. talking takes effort and looking at the person you’re talking to. maybe that’s why our language has lost it’s everyday usage the phone has taken away our ability to speak? I recall driving my niece to school one day and as I talked to her, she was on he phone texting somebody.  I looked at her and said” put the phone down I want to talk to you.” she did and I am thankful for that. I just wanted her to know that I was interested in talking to her and not at her.

an app for my language I would rather speak face to face. what is lost in people talking to each other? one of the biggest things and most important is getting to know them personally. when we say hello and their is a face that goes with the word. why this post you might think? well we do say more then “how or kemo sabbee” or just grunt!

wonder if I spelled it right oh well

these days I hear people trying to speak Cherokee or what they think it sounds like.because .  it is worse when the chief and tribal council can’t speak it. in this part of Oklahoma most schools offer the Cherokee language and kids pick it up pretty fast.   most of the old timers are passing away who remember that we were not allowed to speak our language in the schools. I was told once to not speak Cherokee in grade school by my principal because the other kids couldn’t understand me. not my fault I thought and for quite a while afterwards I only used English now I am trying to come back to my first language to read and write it.

I would like to pass it own to my nieces and nephews but that will be up to them. it would be nice to hear radio commentators to pronounce it right. it’s almost like the woman that wanted the deer crossing to be moved from downtown to out of the city limits. true story. I can imagine the deer coming to the crossing and wondering where their safety crossing sign went. how do you tell them that it’s been moved? advertise it in the paper? put on television and radio as a public service announcement?  oh by the way who speaks the Deer language? could we find a translator and one who could write DEER? what about the dialect? Do deer read and can the younger generation read Deer too? a lot think bout when passing on languages.

until next time-    wa-do and ask a Cherokee how to say it right.

each tribe has their own language some with more dialects.  The cinema namely movies have put forth the idea all we say is “how!” misunderstandings abound and confusion on our part because some just can’t speak it.  this story isn’t about the Cherokee language but illustrates what can happen.

My wife and I were in Nicaragua on a mission trip a couple of years ago. we’d stopped to get some bottled water and saw three guys with sunglasses on some cardboards strapped to the front and back. one of the ladies realized she had lost her sunglasses and wanted another pair. her husband said ” well I have a dollar and will buy you some.” well off he went to negotiate with the guys selling the sunglasses. he did say before  he got out he  would practice his Spanish. he went around to the other side of the store and talked with the men and came back with a pair of sunglasses.

when he was seated back in the van he told what had happened. He said as he was  looking he said in Spanish “you sure have some pretty glasses.” what really came out though was “you sure are a pretty boy.”

He almost started a fight ! language is important but more importantly is to get it right.

 

patriotism – ndn’s are patriotic even though the founding of this country wasn’t their idea of a good thing.. they do serve and will continue to do so since it is still their country.. this is the time they cam make noise, celebrate and shoot of fireworks without the 1st, 2d ,3rd or even the 7th Calvary being called out to quiet down the natives .  as one veteran said ” it is still our country no matter who is president.” or what  flag flies over the land. I served in the army the years 74-77. love or leave it-native American is a misnomer since America didn’t exist until after the revolution- and indigenous doesn’t work for me either- I prefer NDN sounds good. what do you think?

Creative writing helped put this together:  not only the site but my thoughts, as, I wondered about others view of being ndn. I  shortened it because, Colombus never landed on this piece of land we now call America. and wonder where the word America came from?  We’re not called Columbians are we? Think about that. We had dinners at work and I would make up names for them. I made up one for Columbus day and called it “the dumb historians day dinner.”  to top it off teachers went on strike for more pay yet never corrected this mistake in their classrooms! You know being an ndn is tough you see more then you should..    anyway enough of my rants for now until next time.  as we say in Cherokee ” let’s see each other later.”

something new for me – wondered for some time how to get thoughts on being ndn and correcting errors and have fun at the same time. so here goes