THE LANGUAGE OF LOVE
-Huntsville, TX
Linguists at Sam Houston State University in Hunstville, TX have finally released the results of a three year language study showing that Jamaican is now considered to be "The Most Romantic Language".
"Over time people's tastes change. Tastes in langauages is no different," explained Dr. Geoff Miller, leader of the project. "It happens less rapidly than, say, hairstyles and other grooming trends, but more frequently than, for example, coastlines."
Jamaican leapfrogged from the virtual obscurity of 8th place in a similar 1996 study to displace English as the most romantic language. French finished in third, tied with Spanish. Portugese rounded out the top five.
"This is a very disappointing finish for France, the lowest they've scored since the American Industrial Revolution," said Dr. Miller. "Hopefully the people of France can take these results in stride. They certainly have been on a rioting spree of late, and I would hate to think we were in some way responsible for more hardships for that country."
Long held as "The" love language, France benefited from an aura of romantic mystery combined with the legendary sexual prowess of French men and women. A shift in popular opinion post-World War II, however, allowed English to displace French at the top of the list. Dr. Miller explains.
"The first thing to take into account is when we say 'English' on the survey we are speaking very specifically of the United Kingdom and not all English speakers. American in particular tested towards the bottom of the list, as it has every year a survey of this kind is conducted."
Cary Grant was a pioneer in the "English Revival" of romance, with his movie star looks and smooth British tone. The Beatles followed in the 1960's and the sheer hysteria created in young women was enough to make the 1964 survey unecessary.
"Women loved the voices of these British 'stud muffins'. They could say basically anything and still be found attractive. One of the legendary stories is about Richard Burton. He was at a bar in Hollywood and called a woman "an [explitive] cow [explitive] that he wouldn't [explitive] with Peter O'Toole's [explitive]." Not only did the woman hang all over him for the rest of the night, he ended the night going home with both her and her friend."
What then, allowed Jamaican to take the crown in this most recent survey? Dr. Miller credits a growing trend of acceptance of non-Caucasian languages, as well as Jamaican's own "air of mystery."
"Jamaican is a very hard language to understand. I've been a linguist for over 20 years now and when I saw Cool Runnings in the theater I almost needed subtitles to understand what they were saying. Both men and women like an air of mystery and find that sexually appealing. Jamaican has really become the new English."
An example of this is the continued rise in popularity of recording artist and Jamaican, Sean Paul. Many of his songs contain graphic and explicit sexual lyrics, but buried behind a wall of smooth, intriguing Jamaican wordplay and metaphor. His most recent song "Give It Up To Me" contains the chorus "From you look inna me eye gal I see she you want me/When you gonna give it up to me? Because you body enticing you makin' me horny/When you gonna give it up to me?"
"'Because you body enticing you making me horny,'" said Dr. Miller shaking his head. "'You makin' me horny.' Even Jagger couldn't get away with those lyrics and he sang "Brown Sugar", and this is being played on mainstream radio. Truly, this is an amazing age we live in regards to romance."
Linguists at Sam Houston State University in Hunstville, TX have finally released the results of a three year language study showing that Jamaican is now considered to be "The Most Romantic Language".
"Over time people's tastes change. Tastes in langauages is no different," explained Dr. Geoff Miller, leader of the project. "It happens less rapidly than, say, hairstyles and other grooming trends, but more frequently than, for example, coastlines."
Jamaican leapfrogged from the virtual obscurity of 8th place in a similar 1996 study to displace English as the most romantic language. French finished in third, tied with Spanish. Portugese rounded out the top five.
"This is a very disappointing finish for France, the lowest they've scored since the American Industrial Revolution," said Dr. Miller. "Hopefully the people of France can take these results in stride. They certainly have been on a rioting spree of late, and I would hate to think we were in some way responsible for more hardships for that country."
Long held as "The" love language, France benefited from an aura of romantic mystery combined with the legendary sexual prowess of French men and women. A shift in popular opinion post-World War II, however, allowed English to displace French at the top of the list. Dr. Miller explains.
"The first thing to take into account is when we say 'English' on the survey we are speaking very specifically of the United Kingdom and not all English speakers. American in particular tested towards the bottom of the list, as it has every year a survey of this kind is conducted."
Cary Grant was a pioneer in the "English Revival" of romance, with his movie star looks and smooth British tone. The Beatles followed in the 1960's and the sheer hysteria created in young women was enough to make the 1964 survey unecessary.
"Women loved the voices of these British 'stud muffins'. They could say basically anything and still be found attractive. One of the legendary stories is about Richard Burton. He was at a bar in Hollywood and called a woman "an [explitive] cow [explitive] that he wouldn't [explitive] with Peter O'Toole's [explitive]." Not only did the woman hang all over him for the rest of the night, he ended the night going home with both her and her friend."
What then, allowed Jamaican to take the crown in this most recent survey? Dr. Miller credits a growing trend of acceptance of non-Caucasian languages, as well as Jamaican's own "air of mystery."
"Jamaican is a very hard language to understand. I've been a linguist for over 20 years now and when I saw Cool Runnings in the theater I almost needed subtitles to understand what they were saying. Both men and women like an air of mystery and find that sexually appealing. Jamaican has really become the new English."
An example of this is the continued rise in popularity of recording artist and Jamaican, Sean Paul. Many of his songs contain graphic and explicit sexual lyrics, but buried behind a wall of smooth, intriguing Jamaican wordplay and metaphor. His most recent song "Give It Up To Me" contains the chorus "From you look inna me eye gal I see she you want me/When you gonna give it up to me? Because you body enticing you makin' me horny/When you gonna give it up to me?"
"'Because you body enticing you making me horny,'" said Dr. Miller shaking his head. "'You makin' me horny.' Even Jagger couldn't get away with those lyrics and he sang "Brown Sugar", and this is being played on mainstream radio. Truly, this is an amazing age we live in regards to romance."
posted by Matt Worzala at
1:24 PM
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