And that is how I accidentally became interested in languages while sitting in the bathroom reading shampoo bottles. I wish I were making that up.

Back then, if you forgot to bring a book, magazine (or cereal box, etc), you had to find *something* to read. Eventually, your eyes would land on what was available, like the shampoo bottle.

Most people would read: “Apply. Rinse. Repeat.”

I apparently decided to compare the English instructions with the French, Spanish, German, and/or Italian versions.

This led to discoveries such as:

• The French seem to add extra letters just to keep themselves entertained.
• Spanish and Italian are constantly copying each other’s homework.
• German words appear to have been assembled from spare parts found in a garage.
• English has no idea what it’s doing, but somehow still works.

I started noticing that certain words looked related. A word in French would resemble a word in Spanish. An Italian word would resemble something in English.

Then I’d find a word that looked completely different and wonder what historical disaster caused that particular situation.

This was apparently my version of recreation. The strange thing is that everyone learned random things like this.

• You’d read the back of a cereal box enough times to memorize nutrition facts.
• You’d study the ingredients on toothpaste.
• You’d learn how to operate a lawn mower you’ve never owned because the manual happened to be sitting nearby.
• You’d read warning labels so many times you could probably pass a safety certification exam.

Entire generations may have become experts in completely useless information simply because we ran out of things to read (if we didn’t have a book or magazine nearby).

I learned that many products were sold internationally, with instructions in multiple languages.

I learned that languages shared common roots.

I learned that English steals vocabulary from absolutely everyone.

Most importantly, I learned that if a bottle contains instructions in six languages, eventually one of them will use a word that sounds much cooler than the English version.

Looking back, I think those moments taught me something valuable.

When information wasn’t constantly available, curiosity had fewer places to go. It latched onto whatever happened to be nearby.

• A shampoo bottle.
• A map.
• An encyclopedia.
• A dictionary.
• The back of a board game box.

Anything.

Today, if I have a question, I can have an answer in seconds.

That’s undeniably useful.

But part of me misses the strange educational journey that began with sitting in a bathroom and wondering why four different countries seemed to have slightly different words for conditioner.

The internet made learning easier.

The shampoo bottle made learning weirder.