Slave musings

Masters' slave sharing her journey, her introspection of the world she embraces, of the life she has chosen to live.

Voice protocol. Choosing to embrace it, rather than fear it. »« When I can not find my own words.

The interpretation of little and the world of kink.

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All one has to do is learn another language to understand how simplistic and narrow the English language is.  Please do not mistaken my sentiment to mean that the English language is easy to learn, on the contrary.  Anyone I have ever met who has had to learn my native tongue as a second language often speaks of its difficulties and complications and I can not help but agree.  The English language is full of discrepancies not to mention irrational reasons for how a word is spelled, take the word "knife" for instance,  need I say more?  But it is neither of those two annoyances which brings me frustration, rather, it is the lack of words in which my language contains.

In English we have only one word for love: Love.  Now the word love can be used as a noun, a plural noun and even a verb; however, it is still one word, one word to describe so many different sensations, so many different levels of affection.

  • strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties<maternal love for a child>
  • attraction based on sexual desire: affection and tenderness felt by lovers
  • affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests<love for his old schoolmates>
  • an assurance of love<give her my love>
  • warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion<love of the sea>
  • the object of attachment, devotion, or admiration<baseball was his first love>
  • unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another as in fatherly concern of God for humankind; brotherly concern for others; a persons adoration of God

In Spanish, the word love is both a noun and a verb; however, there are a minimum of four different words all which mean love but in varying degrees and pertaining to specific people/objects.

  • amar(to love, to love romantically): Te amo. (Translation: I love you.)
  • encantar(indicating strong like): Me encanto escribir. (Translation: I love to write.)
  • gustar mucho(indicating strong like): Me gusta mucho este sofa. (Translation: I love this sofa.)
  • querer(to love romantically, to want): Te quiero. (Translation: I love you.)

I know from all Master has told me that in German there are numerous ways of expressing love, all with a different word, all expressing different sentiments and I have also been told by my friend Tin that in Punjabi, the words a mother would use to her child when expressing love is different from the words a husband would express to a wife or the love of an object - each feeling has its own word to identify exactly what kind of love is being felt.  I must confess that when I was typing the definitions of the word love I found myself rather surprised at how generic the definitions are  as it seems to cover a great deal of meanings and affections.

Sometimes I believe it is because of our lack of words that people often misunderstand what a person is meaning, why communication is sometimes lost in translation and we find ourselves uncertain with what a person wants and or desires.  My thoughts on my language were not random, rather they were spurred by a few comments Master has made over the last couple of days regarding his impression of what it means to feel little, of what it means to  be in a  little girl / daddy role play , of what it means to be in a little girl / daddy relationship.  From all Master shared with me, he was under the impression that the little girl / daddy  relationship (role play) stemmed from the girl actually being small in stature, being petite and that those fantasies, those desires could only be fulfilled when the woman was tiny in physical shape.  Now I do not believe Master is the only person who shares in those thoughts, just as I am certain that there are many people who only role play or participate in "little girl" scenarios with short, petite women; however, from my own personal experience and from speaking with others as well as my education I would believe that the idea of "littleness" is not so much physical as it is mental.

And I think my definition, my view point varies from Master simply because the English language does not offer many alternatives for describing our feelings.  When I looked up the definition to little I was, once again surprised, because there have been many times I have made the statement, "Master that makes me feel very little" yet the definitions of little do not correspond to how I was feeling, rather it was the closest thing I could think of.  After dissecting my feelings as well as  the Merriam-Webster dictionary,  I believe a better term would be helplessness although that word is not completely accurate either.

I also think it is incredibly hard to find an accurate word for a persons desires, feelings, lusts with regards to the whole "little girl" situation because everyone appears to have an individual response to such an experience.  For those who role play the little girl fantasies I would think many desire a small woman, someone who resembles a child or young teen for that can be part of the fetish.  With that said I know many women who vary greatly in body shape and height and are very active in such exchanges.

I am guessing, not attempting to make a factual statement, but I believe there are differences between role playing the "little girl" behaviour and living a relationship where "little girl" behaviours are present throughout all exchanges including titles, (Dominant = Daddy, submissive or slave = little girl or daughter).  Role playing is something foreign to me as I have only participated in such an activity once and  I found myself giggling throughout the entire scene.  I also do not role play with Master for he told me very early on in our relationship that he simply does not understand the reason behind it, there is no acting (for a lack of a better words) in his exchanges, all he shares, all he expresses is real and there is no need for false dialogue.  This does not mean that either of us judge those who role play, to each his/her own, it simply means that we do not understand that exchange.

But I digress.

With role playing I would think that size, both height and weight might  play an important role with ensuring the fantasy is executed to ones liking; however, an ongoing exchange of feeling "little girl" with a dominant might not have as much to do with size as it does with attitude, with a persons innate feeling and expression.  I know many who like to dress up in the school girl uniform, who enjoy acting rebellious, be given a spanking only to return to every day life without feeling like a little girl.  I also know many who do not dress up at all, who do not put pig tails in their hair and yet they call their loved one Daddy and very much feel "little" when conversing, when being intimate, even when shopping.

I think where the confusion comes from for my Master as well as others I have recently spoken with, has to do with our language and the fact that there simply are not enough words to adequately describe emotions.  The term little seems to be common in this world of kink and yet my definition of little most certainly varies from the next, including the dictionary.  And I think therein lies another problem, the fact that because we lack terminology we as a society have made up our own definitions to suit ourselves, to help us explain behaviours and feelings.

I know that in the past I have used the word little to describe my lack of control; however, the two do not equate and I think for me, that realisation finally sunk in just last night when Master and I were speaking about a particular response I had to something Master had done both earlier in the week and that very night.  My reaction spurred the comment from Master of  me not liking to feel little and for some reason his words did not connect.  I did not feel little at all but I did feel helpless and over powered and although I can see how people would relate those sensations to being little, I did not.  Now in the past I might have but because I had been contemplating terminology, the word little did not associate to me as I am not little.

When I think of the word little I think short, I think petite, I think small as well as young and I am not any of those.  Now I can understand people associating feelings to those they felt when a child, especially feelings of helplessness but then wouldn't it be more accurate to say "I am feeling helpless, I am feeling a loss of control, I am feeling as I did when I was a child" rather than saying little?  And please do not misunderstand, I do not believe this is a case of semantics nor do I think anyone is wrong for making the statement "I feel little".  We all have our own vernacular; however, the reality is we often use words out of context and I believe the term little is one of them.

My words are not law, nor would I want them to be. I am not here to change others views; however, I do believe that if we understand our language just a little better we all will be able to communicate more effectively therefore ensuring all desires, all wants are reached.  The initial lesson from this week was about using proper terminology; however,  if I really sit back and think about it, there is a greater lesson within that and it has to do with asking for what I want and you really can not have one without the other.

*definitions from Merriam-Webster dictionary

The interpretation of little and the world of kink.6.572

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Thursday,December 31,2009 at 6:05 pm
10 comments »
  • Thursday,January 7,2010 at 12:39 amslavey_m

    Though words in English have a set mean­ing, i think most of us use them as sym­bols to get across what we think or feel about a situ­ation and not as a lit­eral descrip­tion of it. When we use a word like ‘little’ in describ­ing little girl, we are put­ting our own beliefs on what its like to be a little girl into the state­ment. So some think of being a little girl as being a very vul­ner­able, help­less time in their life, oth­ers think of it as being totally care­free and bliss­fully happy. If you per­ceive chil­dren to be ignor­ant, then you are most likely to see the little girl of Daddy/little girl play that way as well.

    As for love, you are right, we do need more words, but i think we don’t use the words we have enough. i can have a lik­ing for some­thing, an affec­tion for it, a crush on it, even be in a love affair with it (like a new favour­ite dessert). With Master i love Him in both the noun and verb sense of the word, but it goes way bey­ond that. i also adore, desire, wor­ship and feel devo­tion for Him. It is com­plete and runs to my core, i doubt there is any lan­guage in exist­ence that has a word to describe that feel­ing. The closest i can think of is the archaic mean­ing of awe­ful — when some­thing filled you with awe.

    • Thursday,January 7,2010 at 9:41 amHis Only

      slavey_m,
      I think you hit the nail on the head with your sen­ti­ment, “not as a lit­eral descrip­tion” for I am an extremely lit­eral per­son. I am so lit­eral in fact that I have had to really work at being clear with people regard­ing what I mean and to ask what he/she means because often we are not speak­ing the same lan­guage. This has been a rather try­ing battle for Master for I take everything he says to heart and often he is not being literal.

      I also think though that people truly do not under­stand defin­i­tions and use words at the wrong time, in the wrong context;however, they sin­cerely believe what they say­ing is correct.

      As for the word love, I com­pletely agree with you and believe that I do not only love Master but I too adore him and wor­ship him and feel great devo­tion. Still, the word love is an extremely sig­ni­fic­ant word and I rarely use it unless I know I mean it, unless it is the only way to describe what I am feeling.

      I appre­ci­ate your insight and look for­ward to more.

      ~His

  • Monday,January 4,2010 at 5:52 pmviem­oira

    I found this post very inter­est­ing, par­tic­u­larly how English can be mis­un­der­stood so eas­ily by those who do not speak it primar­ily. I guess when you have grown up with English as your primary lan­guage and not been exposed to other lan­guages much, it can be easy to over­look these valid points.

    • Monday,January 4,2010 at 8:49 pmHis Only

      viem­oira,
      I think study­ing lan­guages cer­tainly helps in under­stand­ing how simplistic the English lan­guage really is. After numer­ous con­ver­sa­tions with dif­fer­ent people regard­ing this topic I found it inter­est­ing just how many people make their own defin­i­tions up even without know­ing they do. I think some­times it is about really listen­ing and ask­ing ques­tions to fully under­stand what a per­son means. I think it is best not to take things for face value, bet­ter to ask and be certain.

      Thank you for stop­ping by. Please feel free to speak your voice whenever you desire. :)

      ~His

  • Saturday,January 2,2010 at 3:21 amJD

    Thank you for the well wishes. I’ve been read­ing your blog for sev­eral months now and this is the first time I’ve been moved to com­ment. I should also have said that read­ing your blog has been very inspir­ing. I really do admire you — maybe most of all for your tenacity.

    • Saturday,January 2,2010 at 5:36 pmHis Only

      JD,
      I think in life we have our dig­nity, our integ­rity and tenacity, almost all else can be taken away or lost but those three things can remain with us forever if we so choose.
      I do appre­ci­ate that you take the time to read my entries and even more that you took the time to com­ment. Life is about exper­i­ence and I find some­times it helps to learn through oth­ers.
      I look for­ward to any other words you wish to share.

      Much warmth,
      ~His

  • Friday,January 1,2010 at 6:11 pmJD

    I agree with Lauren. Being little isn’t about being help­less — for me any­way. When you’re a child, you often don’t under­stand how help­less you are. Being little is about feel­ing depend­ent and vul­ner­able. I find it very thera­peutic to be little when I’m going through strong emo­tions that I can’t pro­cess even when I’m not little. It’s allow­ing my Daddy to take care of me, not being help­less without him.

    With regards to the size issue, part of the appeal to me of ima­gin­ing myself as hav­ing a more child­like body is that I was fully developed by 12 with an hour­glass fig­ure a lot of women have to waist-train to achieve. I’ve never felt con­nec­ted to my ste­reo­typ­ical womanly body. The other part of it is that I’m (well, just-turned) nine­teen, and my Dom/Daddy is 50. As he says, it’s age­play even without regressing.

    • Friday,January 1,2010 at 6:56 pmHis Only

      JD,
      To begin allow me to thank you for shar­ing your views on such a topic. I believe yours along with Lauren’s sen­ti­ments are exactly why there appears to be a vari­ety of under­stand­ings and mean­ings within the kink cul­ture (and most likely else­where). From what you shared as well as Lauren, I would say that I dif­fer greatly from each of you and I prob­ably do from many oth­ers as well which is why I turned to the dic­tion­ary to see what the actual defin­i­tion was and inter­est­ingly it is noth­ing like what you are describ­ing or Lauren described nor did it match the feel­ings I had when exper­i­en­cing cer­tain situations.

      I think that our lan­guage is too simplistic, that we do not have enough words to accur­ately describe what it is we are feel­ing; there­fore we will take already exist­ing words and edit their mean­ings to what matches what we are feel­ing and thinking.

      I value oth­ers views and opin­ions, I think it is always import­ant to listen to what oth­ers have to say.

      Thank you for shar­ing I hope to hear more from you in the future and I wish you and your Dom/Daddy all the very best.

      ~His

  • Thursday,December 31,2009 at 11:20 pmHis Only

    Hey Lauren,
    As I am not flu­ent with Spanish either I con­fess it is a little dif­fi­cult for me to explain except when I con­sul­ted my friends who are Spanish they said that what I was express­ing was accur­ate. I shall have a little faith. :)

    I think that many of the English speak­ing pop­u­la­tion often mis­uses words, I know I do as much as I dis­like admit­ting that. And I believe you are right, we will modify a mean­ing to suit us and what we want.

    For me, under­stand­ing a mean­ing, actu­ally look­ing it up and dis­sect­ing it helped me to under­stand my feel­ings and to help express myself in a clear and con­cise way.

    Us humans are rather inter­est­ing creatures, don’t you think?

    Happy New Year!

    ~His

  • Thursday,December 31,2009 at 6:59 pmLauren

    I’m sort of con­fused. I don’t know Spanish at all, so please excuse my ignor­ance. But, the “strong like” defin­i­tions (encan­tar and gustar mucho) sound like they could be the same as “adore”? Anyway, I didn’t miss the point of this post and I do agree with you. Even when it comes to other words. I think this is why every­one gets caught up in the semantic-type games so often and how argu­ments are ignited on so many blogs.

    I also under­stand why your mas­ter believed that the little girl/daddy dynamic would only include petite women. I’ve talked to women that thought the same thing about being sub­missive in gen­eral. They’d make com­ments about how they couldn’t par­take in any D/s dynamic because they’re the same size as their partner.

    I under­stand the con­fu­sion over “little.” I believe we all (espe­cially sub­missives) have for­mu­lated our own defin­i­tion. When I feel little, it’s not a feel­ing of help­less­ness to me. It’s more so depend­ence, feel­ing naïve, and in need of guid­ance. I enjoy being in that place once in a while des­pite how neg­at­ive that may sound. I know oth­ers view “little” as being any time that they have felt degraded or humi­li­ated. I doubt there will ever be a uni­ver­sal defin­i­tion that we won’t want to modify to our own lik­ing. :)

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