as a boy in nigeria, i was surrounded by friends who did not speak english at home; in fact, they spoke a variety of languages. that’s what happens when you live on university housing, with people from all over the country (that has over 500 languages), and the world.
because of my semi-multi-lingual background and my being married to a linguist, and thus becoming an acquaintance of more linguists than any normal person probably should, i think i think about language more than the average joe, or morag.
i grew up hearing words that didn’t quite have an english translation, that were used in certain situations. sadly, i can’t remember any of them at this writing.
now, in scotland, i’ve had to learn when and how to use new words and one of them in particular, i’ve had a hard time figuring out when exactly to use.
i can now say i know what ‘hogmanay’ is, and how to pronounce it somewhat properly. i know how to say the word ‘ceilidh’, as long as i don’t have to read it – every time i see it written it takes me a second or two to figure out what i’m reading. i know when to use ‘wee’, although i almost never use it. i know how it feels to be ‘chuffed’ or ‘gutted’. but ‘cheers’ still gets me – it’s a word i hear used more than the rest of these and i’m in the position to use a lot, but i’m still working on exactly when and how to use it.
in my view, ‘cheers’ is like ‘thank you’-lite. i think it's even lighter than 'thanks'. when someone holds a door for you (which is what got me thinking about writing this blog, at the gym last night) you could say ‘thanks’ or ‘cheers’. when you get your change and receipt from the grocery store teller, you could say ‘thanks’ or ‘cheers’. where i’m not so certain is where the line is drawn – the line where you don’t say ‘cheers’, but do say ‘thank you’.
i would guess that that if you get a really awesome gift from someone, something you really wanted, you wouldn’t say ‘cheers’; you would say ‘thank you’. you wouldn’t say ‘cheers’ to a doctor, or anyone, who saved your life, you would say ‘thank you’. the question for me is when is that point where ‘cheers’ just does not cut it? when you come off almost making light of the situation by saying ‘cheers’ where you should be saying ‘thank you’.
so during this holiday week in the united states, when you are spending time with your family (which i won’t be, unfortunately), give cheers for the year you’ve had, and the people you love, and have a happy cheersgiving.
