Language shapes thinking

Fascinating article in the NY Times that explores how language shapes the way we think about the world. Different languages, different ways of experiencing it.

> When your language routinely obliges you to specify certain types of information, it forces you to be attentive to certain details in the world and to certain aspects of experience that speakers of other languages may not be required to think about all the time. And since such habits of speech are cultivated from the earliest age, it is only natural that they can settle into habits of mind that go beyond language itself, affecting your experiences, perceptions, associations, feelings, memories and orientation in the world.

Similar to my observations about [how language affects meaning](http://www.ryskamp.org/brain/?p=68) from years ago.

Mamihlapinatapai

Mamihlapinatapai is a word from the Yaghan language of Tierra del Fuego, listed in The Guinness Book of World Records as the "most succinct word", and is considered one of the hardest words to translate. It describes "a look shared by two people with each wishing that the other will initiate something that both desire but which neither one wants to start."

There are so many perfect situations for this word…more at Mamihlapinatapai – Wikipedia.