Ostomy Memories on Speech

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HenryM

“You say to-may-toe, and I say to-mah-toe,
You say po-tay-toe, and I say po-tah-toe,
To-may-toe, to-mah-toe, po-tay-toe, po-tah-toe,
Let’s call the whole thing off.”

Every person has a unique way of speaking or writing that sets them apart. Sometimes it’s a reflection of where they live; sometimes it is a clue as to how they live; or it could be an educational byproduct (or lack thereof). Sometimes it is even matched up with the type of personality they have. Irrespective of what produced the difference, it is the distinction that makes it interesting.
Sometimes the language itself adds to the confusion of tongues (babble). Do you eat hot dogs? Franks? Wieners? Is it bologna or baloney?
Perhaps it’s all baloney.
Remember when you were a kid and the class bully was always saying mean things to the kid wearing glasses? Odds are you identified more closely with the kid being picked on than the jerk doing the picking, right? Typically and inevitably, the kid with the glasses grew up to be Bill Gates or someone like him and the bully ended up changing oil in a garage on a back street somewhere. They did a take on that in the flick “Back to the Future.”
Talk may be cheap but it neatly becomes a mirror of the kind of person you are. The reason talk is cheap is because supply exceeds demand. Someone once said that if you keep your mouth shut it’s harder to put your foot in it. Lawyers are good examples of this. Sometimes they figure that, if they keep talking, it adds substance to their argument. The opposite is true, in fact. Succinctness more frequently carries the day. And who likes a blabbermouth or complainer, anyway?
One rarely gets in trouble for something one didn’t say.

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Bill

Hello HenryM. 

I do like your reasoning on these sorts of subjects as they apply to people who seem to like to hear the sound of their own voices and sometimes even believe what they are saying. 

I have spent my working life listening to people who do not normally have a 'voice', in the sense of people listening to them with any interest, empathy, or belief in what they have to say. I have ,therefore, had to devise techniques to encourage them to communicate in ways which are clear and concise with regard to their 'meaning'. What I have found, is that these relstively inarticulate people have much more interesting things to impart than the orators on public display. What is even more interesting, is that when they are in public, these same people tend to communicate non-verbally much more than they do verbally. Perhaps indicating that the spoken word is not always as effective as the speaker thinks it is. 

Obviously, I have contemplated such concepts in the past and tried to capture my thoughts in rhyme. So, below is just one of my ramblings on this subject.

Best wishes

Bill 

BUNKUM.

Those who start to have momentum
in the art of talking bunkum
presume that others will believe
all the claptrap up their sleeve.

As they’re spouting out their bullshit
they might in fact believe in it.
And so because they think they’re right
their own delusions might take flight.

In weaving webs of verbal tripe
believing all of their own hype
they try to set the stage and scene
to convey all that they mean.

Both you and me might see their tosh
as a right neat heap of hogwash.
But they seem quite oblivious
to what we see as obvious.

The twisted byways that they walk
combined with drivel that they talk
may well add up to make us feel
that they are mad or not quite real.

The codswallop that’s spouted out
in odd dollops around about
is often blurted out by folk
who simply want to laugh and joke.

But there are those who play such games
with much more creepy, evil aims.
They’ll talk their way into control
of governing and its rigmarole.

Then they will make up stupid laws
and take us into stupid wars.
And all because some listened to
the bunkum in their points of view.

                           B. Withers 2013

(in: Unfashionable rhyming verse. 2014)

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HenryM


My favorite lines:  "They'll talk their way into control / of governing and its rigmarole."  Great stuff, Bill.

TerryLT

Hi Henry, so many good points you make here. I find that the people I cross paths with in life who leave the best impression, those I feel an instant warmth towards and would like to get to know better, are most often the good listeners, those who don't love the sound of their own voice and are content to sit back and observe and listen. When they do contribute, they usually have something meaningful to say. They are most often the deep thinkers who may or may not be great communicators in the academic sense but we would be wise to listen to what they have to say. Then there are those who can run circles around you with their language skills and are masters of speaking volumes without really saying anything. Politicians are particularly adept at this.

Best wishes,

Terry

lovely

I know people who always know or think they know about everything you have to say. They don't always hear what you are saying because they are too anxious to jump in with their opinion. A lot of times if you take a breath, they jump in and cut you off. Best wishes and stay safe.

 
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veejay

Well Henry, to once again quote that well-known modern-day American philosopher, Homer J. Simpson:

"That's the problem with the world today... communication, too much communication."

Keep well.

V.J.

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