#everyone knows placeholder words in their first language and uses them a lot bc they're useful!!!

[steorran]

i'm a huge believer that like the first week of language classes should include teaching everyone whatever some of the local placeholder words are

it expands the number of ideas you can communicate HUGELY if you know how to say "thing", "person", "that" and "like" because now you can ask for/about anything you can gesture at (what's that thing? what's that person doing? can i have that thing? etc.) or describe vaguely (i need the person for the lights [electrician], i want a thing like that, etc.) and check in if you're doing stuff "properly" (you do it like that? i do it like that?)