Being a unilingual person in a bilingual (even multilingual) nation, it is easy to understand the value of being able to selectively communicate with others. It provides an opportunity to tell one person something, that you do not wish another person(who doesn't know the language spoken) to hear - or, understand.

For the rest of us, who only speak one language, we do not have the privilege of this sort of selective communication. That is, until the conception of the Incomprehensible Language.

For this language, there is a mutal understanding between people in a given social group that when an incomprehensible strand of utterances issues from ones' mouth, they are communicating to you that they want to tell you something they dont want somebody else to hear. It is the responsibility of the recipient of this communication to attempt to recieve more information by some means or use logic to figure out what is being said.

This can be simple. If the police come to the door and your accomplice says "Iny fundo gurdan himslock!" you could probably assume he is saying, he would like to tell you something that he can't say in front of the police. Therefore, you go hide all the marijuana and get rid of all of the evidence.

Or it can be a little difficult. You may be in a situation where you dont know who the person being selectively communicated against is. And upon hearing, "Ginslod hin jockslab din sloopen gland", you may have absolutely no idea what to do. If this occurs often enough, your social group may begin assign meanings to certain incomprehensible utterances. Thereby creating a proper language.
-- cuckoointherye, Jan 26 2005

I dunno http://www.goarch.o...les/article7112.asp
You don't want to get mixed up with these guys... [DrCurry, Jan 27 2005]

I can eat glass, it doesn't hurt me http://www.geocitie...odotus/hbglass.html
...or you could just say something silly in lots of languages... [hippo, Jan 27 2005]

God can help. http://gbgm-umc.org...photobank/e0461.jpg
Note: appearance of small flame in the air over the head may signify that God is helping. [bungston, Apr 23 2005]

Sneek kuoam fnirdle zeckenbosh. (+)
-- jutta, Jan 26 2005


Stating the obvious - if the only thing you are able to communicate to the other person is 'I want to tell you about something in private.' why not say, 'I want to tell you something in private?'

Also, when you ever met someone from a foreign country, you wouldn't know if they were from a foreign country, or if they wanted to talk to you in more intimate surroundings.
-- zen_tom, Jan 26 2005


Linear B
-- hippo, Jan 26 2005


Grrrrr... its a language to avoid physically alienating people. In other words, its for situations where its difficult to speak in private.
-- cuckoointherye, Jan 26 2005


But you're not "talking" about anything. It doesn't matter if they are intelligent enough to understand "they are saying something they dont want me to hear", because it is actually less deceiving than any other language because that is the message everyone receives. However, the people who benefit save themselves from saying something incriminating or embarrassing etc.
-- cuckoointherye, Jan 26 2005


whispering works well
-- Worldgineer, Jan 26 2005


It's ok , [cuckoo] - I understand what you're saying here. [+]
-- wagster, Jan 26 2005


I'm trilingual and sometimes I'm in situations where everyone else in the room speaks the same three languages as I, so it really doesn't do much good when I want to gossip about Joe's bad haircut or Jane's horrendous outfit, or "Oh my God, I can't believe Jackie's kids are behaving like such brats and she's not doing anything to stop them!" or "Wow, Johnny looks like a god."...My sisters and I are thinking of learning a 4th language for this purpose--Finnish, perhaps? Or maybe now the Incomprehensible Language. It's always handy knowing more than one language. [+]
-- Machiavelli, Jan 26 2005


Smacking your buddies up side the head does more than create a distraction -- it endears you to them.
-- reensure, Jan 26 2005


[Machiavelli] - Finnish is similar to incomprehensible language in almost every way (except of course, it is comprehensible to Finns, and possibly [moomintroll]). The advantage here is that you and your sisters would of course speak the same incomprehensible language.
-- wagster, Jan 26 2005


Finnish is similar to Hungarian, Estonian and other Uralic languages.
-- FarmerJohn, Jan 26 2005


Was just checking out Finnish language on some language sites...looks way too complicated. Maybe something a little easier, like cockney, will suffice. :)
-- Machiavelli, Jan 26 2005


[+] I believe everybody becomes instantly fluent in Incomprehensible the moment they walk into a nightclub. At least, I can never understand a word anyone says to me in those places. I just go on intonation and facial expression, so I fear my responses to Incomprehensible in other situations might be equally inappropriate:

"Orsh mumtik aloom tousk!" "Oh, er, yeah. Yeah! Me too."

...and yes, before someone says it, yes, this probably does have something to do with the loud music they play in clubs. Well done.

Thanks for your faith, [wagster], but as far as I'm concerned Suomi just sounds like quite a good name for a girl.
-- moomintroll, Jan 26 2005


In the US, it's called "hillbilly," "redneck," or "West Virginian," depending on the slant of the "r" noises.
-- shapu, Jan 26 2005


I know it's not quite the idea here, but the concept of a language only understandable by the two people speaking is baked by lots of people as kids--it's the basis of Pig Latin and all the other pseudo-languages created by modifying English spelling, the understanding of which relies on one's being in on the gimmick.
-- Etymon, Jan 26 2005


Ixnay on the igpay atinlay, [ymontay]. Everyone understands it nowadays.
-- Machiavelli, Jan 26 2005


What's "dnowa" ?
-- jutta, Jan 26 2005


"dnowa", is the present tense of the verb "d ", which would translate as " to be ". Not to be confused with " dlayta" and " dafutcha"
-- normzone, Jan 27 2005


Bog! what a tolchock in me gulliver. Real horrorshow.
-- Zimmy, Jan 27 2005


Garnut alboir sicomg.
-- waugsqueke, Jan 27 2005


//If this occurs often enough, your social group may begin assign meanings to certain incomprehensible utterances. Thereby creating a proper language.//

If this incomprehensible language starts developing meanings, eventually anybody will be able to speak it and it will lose its purpose. I would give it a [+] if nobody were to give it standard meanings.

Want to talk to someone in private? Learn sign (hand)language: the chances that somebody else will be able to understand are slim. Or, just learn another language. Some of us know more than two... so, trust me, it can be done. (and I'm not being conceited here, just making a point. It's ridiculous to realize that, even in today's multicultural world, there is still people who don't speak a second language).
-- Pericles, Jan 27 2005


lol, [muumipeikko]; wouldn't Tarja, Tuija or Pilvi sound better?
-- squigbobble, Apr 23 2005



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