When my youngest grandchild (aged 6) comes to visit, he brings a sibling to serve as “translator” because at least half the time, I can’t understand what he is saying.
Indian and some Chinese speakers drive me up the wall. Inscrutable is one thing; incomprehensible is another.
I watch the “Seth Cohen” character on “The OC” move his mouth, but am oblivious to the witty dialogue which my son greatly enjoys.
What do these things have in common?
My guess is it has to do with something called “aging ear”. As people grow older, we lose the ability to hear high-frequency sounds.
This started to be a problem for me a number of years ago, when I was in my mid-forties and worked in a female-dominated profession, HR. It may have been exacerbated by the fact that I had an ear infection in my twenties. In any event, it made meetings intolerable, driving me at one point to tears because I couldn’t hear what was being discussed.
A technology company tried to use this medical phenomenon to shoo teenagers away from loitering spots by playing high-pitched sounds beyond the range of most adults.
What has evolved, though, are ring tones which allow kids in classrooms to receive calls which their teachers can’t hear.
So much for age and treachery overcoming youth and skill.