Receptionist: "Mrs. Smith canceled her appointment."
My Wife: "Why?"
Receptionist: "Take a wild guess...."

My wife works as a physical therapist within the blue collar suburbs of Chicago.

It is common for patients to call up and cancel their appointments because of diarrhea.

Now I just heard this story yesterday, and still haven't fully internalized this. These patients could say anything. "Upset stomach." "Have the flu." "Just not feeling well."

But instead, they're willingly offering up this information. And this isn't just one person, but is SO common, it's become an inside joke among her staff.

I'm trying to understand the social norms behind this story. For instance, I don't believe I've ever used the word in public before. I was under the impression that this was an unmentionable.

Who's the weird one here? Them or me?

Today, technology exists that allows me to speak into a phone in English, have the phone translate my words, and have it speak to another individual in their own language.

In the purest sense of the idea, communication with other peoples no longer requires I learn a foreign language.

Now, if you are an English-speaking physician working in a largely Hispanic-populated city, this communication "solution" isn't good enough. Likewise, if you plan on moving to a foreign country one day, it's simply more practical to learn that country's specific language.

But, for the rest of us? It taking two years of French in high school a good thing? Sure. But, is it of more value to me than learning how a carburetor works? I'm not sure. I want to know "how much value" learning a foreign language has in a world where, in terms of sheer communication, it's no longer necessary.