I like to study language. Whether it's when I'm reading, when I'm listening to NPR, or when I'm having a conversation, I sometimes lose track of what people are saying and begin focusing on how they're saying it. So I've made a decision to write a brief post on it. Or did I take a decision to do so?
Turns out that in Spanish and in French, and in British English and Australian English, people say "to take a decision" instead of "to make a decision." I think this is fascinating. Why the distinction? Does it have a cultural significance? Is it the difference between a more laidback, or passive approach to decisions -- and a more trailblazing, defining, aggressive approach to decisions? "Taking a decision" conjures up an image of an array of choices that are already laid before me on silver platters -- and that it's just a matter of selecting which is the best fit for me. "Making a decision" conjures up an image of a sculptor carving out his destiny -- of seeing something one wants, and going out and seizing it. This seems to me to be a division of temperaments -- European vs. American. Are we as Americans obsessed with creation and progress and the idea of the self-made man? Is making more empowering than taking?
William Safire wrote a column about such "Britishisms" in the New York Times more than 20 years ago. Read it here! I like that he compares "taking a decision," "taking tea," or "taking your point" to accepting a serve in tennis.
What do you make of that? Or, what do you take away?
No comments:
Post a Comment