Osho’s English

Sanjeeva, it is certainly not British. To be British is not easy. One has to be born British at least seven times. It takes a very long time to be British. And it is not American either because I am not a tourist. You know I don’t even leave my room – what kind of American can I be?

And why should my English be British or American? My English is MY English – Rajneesh English! And this is a democratic country and the constitution declares freedom of speech as one of the fundamental rights. I speak my own language. Why should I speak American or English? In fact, English is too uptight, it is too tense, and American has become too lousy – just the opposite; it is a reaction.

“Mine American-born daughter she’s telling me: ‘Yeah, Popsi-wopsi, I gotcha, but you’ll hafta lay some heavy bread on me so’s I kin strut new threads at the establishment bust-out, ya dig?’”

“So I am digging for maybe a half-hour to learn she needs money, she should have a new dress for the school dance…. And she is criticizing mine dialect!” her father was saying to me.

Now it is very difficult for me to understand….

“Yeah, Popsi-wopsi, I gotcha, but you’ll hafta lay some heavy bread on me so’s I kin strut new threads at the establishment bust-out, ya dig?”

I don’t dig it at all! And why should I dig? I have never done such a job in my whole life.

So I simply speak whatsoever way comes to me, whatsoever way comes spontaneously to me. You will have to be a little patient with me.

Osho, Walking in Zen, Sitting in Zen, Ch 10, Q 4