Word! The Language Column  Words waiting on walls

Elias Hirschl is fascinated by language in public spaces. For him, used texts are the most beautiful reading and writing material – to be found everywhere. And so the applause order might turn into a play and the building plan into a novel.

A little over a year ago, I did a small project with the Viennese writer Fabian Navarro in which we photographed and transcribed all the signs, notices, directions, escape and fire safety plans, and even the notes of the technicians at the Vienna Volkstheater, and then compiled new texts from them, which we were allowed to present on two different evenings at the Volkstheater. We also recorded and transcribed all the stickers and graffiti on the grounds of the Volkstheater. Since then (and even before) I’ve been fascinated by everyday texts in public space. All these texts, which are not artistically valuable in the strict sense, have also had a great influence on my writing in their often unintentional humour and beauty.

Found objects at the Volkstheater

What fascinates me about everyday texts is that they give us a good insight into our own sociolects and strange local languages that don’t usually seem valuable enough to be included in a literary work. At the same time, they provide a wealth of new words that are otherwise rarely heard. In the case of popular theatre, these have included such wonderful terms as

• Zuschauerhausrauchklappen (auditorium smoke flaps)
• Haltemagnet (holding magnet)
• Deckenspots (ceiling spotlights)
• Kugellampen (ball lamps)
• Gehörschutzstöpselspender (earplug dispensers)
• Applausordnung (applause rules)

and many more. From the latter, we have also compiled our own texts, the applause rules. Applause rules are the exact technical sequence of how actors and crew should enter and leave the stage after the performance, from where and for how long to take their bows.  A wonderful series of small technical instructions that the audience normally never sees. All of this can be seen as artistic reading material. Applause instructions could be a play. Floor plans could be a novel. The stickers on the inside of fire doors showing when they were last inspected by a company – a book of poetry.

Strange words for writer’s block

Over the past few months I’ve been taking more and more photos of signs on my walks. Good words from the last few weeks:

• Kugelhahnabsaugung (ball valve suction)
• Befüllmulde (filling trough)
• Sickerschacht (soakaway)
• Gasrückführung (vapour recovery)
• Handlasten (hand loads)
• schwebende Fracht (suspended loads)
• Nachtsperreneinbau (night barrier installation)
• Quetschgefahr (crushing hazard)
• Küchenanlieferung (kitchen delivery)
• Feuerwehrbewegungsfläche (fire brigade movement area)
• Notentriegelung (emergency release)
• Befülltrichter (filling hopper)
• Blitzschutztrennstelle (lightning protection isolation point)

All top words.

Nine months ago, together with Fabian Navarro, I gave a writing workshop on “uncreative writing” to participants in the Junior Bachmann Literature Competition at the Musil House in Klagenfurt. This is about different writing methods, all of which work with means and activities that are not classically perceived as artistic: for example, stupidly copying a text, leaving a microphone on all day and transcribing the result, compiling poems from Google results, and so on. What worked best in the workshop was to have the students walk around the Musil House collecting interesting words. These were then to be incorporated into a text. I believe that this combination of active engagement, searching for words as hidden, physical objects, triggers something that immediately makes the writing process more interesting. I can definitely recommend it as a little exercise in between, or as a method to overcome writer’s block. And in general, I can recommend simply keeping your eyes open for unusual, strange words waiting somewhere on the walls when you go for a walk.
 

September 2024