Communicating Ideas.

After reading this article on people who speak Turkish, English, Mandarin Chinese, and Spanish using the same order of hand signals (subject, object, verb) when communicating the same ideas and actions, I am reminded of a certain trip to Pizza Hut with my mom and brothers and sister.

We were all under the age of 14, I think, and we were probably shopping or doing something equally exciting in the big city of BISMARCK NORTH DAKOTA (capital of the state, boo yah), and after several hours at the Kirkwood Mall we headed for a lunch break between the next mall, Gateway, which had much better fabric stores.

Already tired and worn out from hours of driving and looking at sheet music and children's clothes, Mom attempted to order for the family using broken English and hand signals.

"I need ah..." Mom holds her hands a foot apart, parrallel to her forehead and sternum.

"Pitcher?" guesses the waitress.

"Yes! Ah...of Coke...and one..." mom holds her hands cupped into flat C shapes over the table top of her and stretches them to create a four foot radius multiple times.

"Extra large?"

"Yeah...ahhhh...meat lovers... and..."

Truely, my memory falls through here and either mom simulated throwing pizza dough in the air to signal that she wanted a hand tossed crust, or held her thumb and index finger a couple inches apart and up to her eye to choose the thicker pan crust style. Can't remember. But after this little linguistic exchange with our waitress, I do remember us all laughing with Mom. She thought it was pretty funny, and now I think it's even funnier, cause I talk with my hands SOOOO MUCH (oops, there goes my coffee)!

Love you, Mom. Thanks for passing on your teeth, lips, hand gestures, and kitchen dancing techniques to me.