my second language

I came upon this crossword clue in Sunday's paper: "goat hanger?" (answer: beard... whatever!)  What I REALLY came across was a word that I instantly and involuntarily translated into: oh yeah, I need to work on mine.  That word was 'goat'.

Goat, WOD, metcon, AMRAP, double under, hspu, Fran, Helen, Griff, Murph, kipping, butterfly, squats, deads, sdhp, snatch, jerks, cleans, Cindy, Grace, certs, throw downs...just to name a few of the words that help make up the CrossFit language.  Every CrossFitter knows we have our own language.  We learn it through immersion.  Once in the box, the process starts.  When I first began, I can remember feeling a little embarrassed speaking CrossFit because I felt I hadn't yet earned the 'right' to do so.  Perhaps, as with any new language, I also felt I might not be using the words correctly, so I was shy about using them at all.  As my confidence grew, I got better at the language.  

I try to stick to speaking English when I am around someone who doesn't know CrossFit, especially when there are two or more of us with an English speaking person!  It's difficult.  CrossFit is a comfortable, exciting, joyful, saucy, happy, bawdy, creative language.  Still, I know it's not always appropriate.

Not to blow our cover, but what non-CrossFit speaking people don't realize is that we are always translating English into CrossFit whenever we hear words that double as part of our language.  It's hard to avoid.  There are so many relatable words we hear and since at any given moment a CrossFitter can be mentally reviewing a WOD, a lift, or contemplating the next goal, jumping back and forth between English and Crossfit is natural once you know the language.  Even harder for me, and I'm sure I'm not alone, are those occasions when a translation occurs and a joke formulates but there's no one with whom to share it.  Oh sure, I can tell myself that it's good enough to whip out in class someday, but I forget and move on...sighhhhh...what a waste! 

I always wanted to become fluent in a second language and just yesterday, because of the Sunday crossword clue: "goat hanger?", I realize that I have.  Oh, and by the way, "goat" translates to: a movement in CrossFit that you suck at and therefore have to work on more often.  "Embrace the suck" is a common phrase in my second language. :)  And all that translates back into English as WAHOOO!