Connotations behind the use of language: 01 (English)

 

One of my evening programme students was a part-time translator before taking up an electrical engineering course at my suggestion.  

    He was passionate about TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), but had trouble earning anything at all, never mind a stable income.  This was around 1995, when TCM over here was still a bit sluggish in taking off.  I said it’d be difficult for him to convince people that a Westerner like him could do acupuncture and all that, and that he should go and get qualified in something like engineering that would get him a job easily and earn him a stable income, and then he could go and practice TCM as a hobby.

    He duly went off to do a course in electrical engineering and started working on big projects (earning ￡250/day, round about 1997).  I then noticed that he’d punctuate his conversations with “Do you know what I mean?”, which would get shortened to “Know what I mean?” with such frequent usage, then even down to “Nar mean?”. 

    I found this incredibly irritating, not so much due to how often it was trotted out, more because of what it implies:  that the speaker is saying something the listener might have trouble understanding, so the speaker needs to check every other sentence.  

    I can understand it if the speaker was explaining something technical (e.g., electrical engineering, TCM, Chinese grammar), but not in a conversation about everyday life scenarios.  I got so irritated at some point I’d say, “Yes, Connor*, I know what you mean.”  (*not his real name)

    I put this down to builder-/construction-trade-speak, as he was working on engineering projects like the CTRL (Channel Tunnel Rail Link) and Heathrow T.5.  

    Nearly thirty years later, I find someone else, albeit not a native-speaker of English this time, using a similar expression: “Do you understand?”, often reduced to “You understand?” or “Understand?” as it’s used so much.  What does this person do for work?  Yup, he’s a builder.  

    So, it looks like it’s a common expression in the construction business — perhaps because they’re often having to explain construction-related technical terms/concepts to people, which is therefore understandable (haha, couldn’t resist the word play here…).  

    However, if I’m right about why they say it, then how is it we do not find doctors doing it to patients and their family when explaining the whys and hows of the illness(es)?  So, maybe, not just because it’s technical…

    Anyway, the effect it has on me is that it makes the listener feel stupid.  The speaker needs to constantly check that the listener does understand, which is a bit insulting, not just irritating from the repetition.

(London, 1995 / 2024)