Onward Phrases, Voices and Tribulations

Yesterday our blog prompt was

"What phrases do you say a lot? Do you use them in your writing as much as you do vocally or do you "clean up" your writing?"
If you so desire you can check out (or recheck as the case may be) my response at Phrases and Tribulations.

And as I was commenting on one of the other bloggers site, it hit me. For a 'southern' I tend to talk slow. Most of that was because of one very special English teacher, Mrs. Allen, who I had for English, Literature and Latin for nearly 4 years (in Guam). She was wonderful, with a unique teaching method if you ask me. If we were studying Shakespeare, and had to read any of his works aloud it had to be done like the English spoke in his day, which was very fast, almost like a foreign language.

It was also she who gave us "Billy Bud" to read. I hated that book. I was not overly impressed with Melville anyway, and that book just confirmed my suspicions. He is not a very good writer, at least in my humble opinion. We all had to read five books during the semester and then had a test on them. Actually we had a test on four of the books and each student got to pick the book they didn't want to test on. Afterwards, it was discovered everyone in the class left off "Billy Bud."

But back to phrases and voices and how I speak slower than I type. It was this same remarkable teacher, who, in English class, made us talk with our hands behind our backs. Do you know how difficult it is to hold a conversation with your hands behind your back?

We have all gotten use to using our hands as a shortcut in our speaking. Once they are not available, you have to really think about what you are saying. This does not mean I have not put my foot in my mouth, I have and probably more so than most. That is just in my nature.

So next time you have to give a speech or have a conversation, do so with your hands behind your back and let me know how it goes.