In this time of great tragedy by natural disaster I am praying for the people of Burma & China. The contrast in the way the governments involved are handling the crisis makes the tragedy in Burma all the more stark. Besides lengthening my prayer list the tragedy in Burma instigated research into the naming of meteorological phenomena. I hadn’t previously run into the term cyclone enough to know what it really meant. So when it started popping up in the news I thought I should gain some clarity. Now having done the research I thought I would share my surprising discoveries with you.
My discoveries are surprising to me because I thought I had learned this lesson many years ago when I figured out that typhoon was the name of a hurricane in Asia. Little did I know I only learned a part of the story. I only learned that part because when I lived in Hong Kong, there was a typhoon. Everything was canceled on the day it was to come near, people were advised to stay indoors and thus the NGO I worked at didn’t open that day. However, I didn’t live to far from work and had a bit of catching up to do before I left on a trip to Korea to attend the Asian Methodist Youth Conference. So I walked to work. It was rainy and very windy outdoors but I got lots done in the quiet office and I made it to work and back. Only as I was waiting to fly out of Kai Tak Airport, along with all the stranded passengers who were camped out on every available flat surface, did I read a news article saying that a typhoon was a hurricane. The same phenomenon was just called by a different name when it happened in Asia. At that moment it all clicked in place and made sense why it was so windy on my walk to the office the day before. I then thought, if only they had told me it was a HURRICANE I would NOT have ventured out! So having learned that lesson, stupidly but thankfully safely, I thought I had learned all about the subject.
Then a cyclone occurs in Burma and from what I hear about the devastation wrought I thought, “this sounds like a hurricane, but it can’t be because it is not called a typhoon.” Thus the research. It turns out that the part of the lesson I didn’t learn is that the both the terms hurricane and typhoon are “regionally specific names for a strong ‘tropical cyclone’.” Growing up in North American I thought that hurricane was the universal word and that any others were regional variations. Now I come to find out, cyclone is the descriptive word and that the terms hurricane and typhoon are both regional variations.* In addition, typhoon is only the regional variation in the Northwest Pacific, not in all of Asia.
This confusion over words, even amongst those who speak the same language, reminds me of all the times we talk but don’t communicate. Words come out of our mouths, but we don’t get the meaning across. Unfortunately, this often happens in religious circles and we talk around each other instead of to each other. Many Christians, myself included, when talking about faith quickly descend into church jargon. After all it is a comforting and familiar language to many of us, and there is a time and place for it, but it doesn’t always help us to really communicate with others. In speaking about faith the words that communicate best are descriptive of your own experience and feelings, not big fancy words. You don’t have to prove you have read a theological (theology=God talk) book; it is better to speak from the heart. I encourage you to give some thought to the words you use so that you might be clearly understood in matters of faith and in all areas of your life.
For those of you who live in the UK, this is Christian Aid week. The ads on TV have reminded me that the donation of £40 can provide a community with a loudspeaker system and flags to act as an early-warning system to help prevent the widespread loss of lives in the case of a cyclone such as the one to hit Burma. A smaller donation of £4 can provide water purification tablets for one day for 10 people. Disasters, such as those of this past week, are tragic but we have an opportunity and responsibility to help those in distress rebuild their devastated communities. Such help is one way of communicating across any language barrier. As St. Francis was reputed to have said, “Preach always, when necessary use words.” Keeping that in mind, when we do use words lets try to be clear and really communicate our meaning.
* It turns out that the breakdown of the cyclone terminology is quite precise. I found this very detailed description from the NOAA for those interested:
If winds reach 33 m/s (64 kt, 74 mph), then they are called:
- “hurricane” (the North Atlantic Ocean, the Northeast Pacific Ocean east of the dateline, or the South Pacific Ocean east of 160E)
- “typhoon” (the Northwest Pacific Ocean west of the dateline)
- “severe tropical cyclone” (the Southwest Pacific Ocean west of 160E or Southeast Indian Ocean east of 90E)
- “severe cyclonic storm” (the North Indian Ocean)
- “tropical cyclone” (the Southwest Indian Ocean)
