The focus is on the
following dialogue from the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the
Black Pearl”. The pirates, lead by Captain Barbossa, have attacked Port Royal
and taken Elizabeth, one of the main characters, hostage. She, knowing the
pirate code, has asked for a “parley”, a truce in order to negotiate.
Elizabeth: Captain Barbossa, I am here to negotiate the cessation of hostilities against Port Royal.Barbossa: There are a lot of long words in there, Miss; we're naught but humble pirates. What is it that you want?Elizabeth: I want you to leave and never come back.Barbossa: I'm disinclined to acquiesce to your request. Means "no".
Obviously this
dialogue is about how you can say one thing with simple, short words, but also
with long, complicated words. We will analyze those words.
Elizabeth says that
she’s “here to negotiate
the cessation of hostilities against Port Royal”. So she wants to negotiate, i.e. talk to Barbossa in
order to reach an agreement. To cease means to stop, so cessation or ceasing means stopping. Hostilities are acts of warfare. Therefore we gather that she wants
to convince the pirates to stop attacking Port Royal. As the governor’s daughter, she was taught
to talk like that.
Barbossa, however,
asserts that “[there] are a lot of long words” and that he and his crew are “naught but humble pirates”, i.e.
nothing but humble pirates – implying they are simple minded. Elizabeth
rephrases, “I want you to leave and never come back.” which is certainly a much
simpler expression.
Barbossa, making
fun of her, says “I'm disinclined to acquiesce to your request.” To be inclined
to do sth. means to be disposed or willing to do sth., so to be disinclined to do sth. means the
opposite. To acquiesce means to
agree silently or to accept. And a request
is, of course a thing asked for. In short, as he says himself, he means: “No.”
A rather fanciful way of conveying such a short word, don’t you think?
But that is the end
of this episode. Drink up, me hearties, yo ho!
This is the script to an episode.
You can listen to this episode at: awordaweek.podomatic.com
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Intro and outro music in the podcast: The Jam by General Fuzz (generalfuzz.net)
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