By Olivene Godfrey
WATCH ADVICE FOR OWN GOOD, FOOLISH LANGUAGE--
AND DADDY AND THE RAVEN AND CHOCOLATE SODA.
Most of us have had the experience of having someone tell us something for our “own good”. I don’t know about you people but when someone volunteers to tell me something for my own good, I have to restrain myself from giving them a good rap across the mouth.
But, not being a violent person, I react in a more rational manner. I might be boiling inside but I have never struck anyone under those circumstances - yet! Most of us don’t want to know of malicious gossip or any kind of personal criticism that may have been directed against us. I find constructive criticism painful, even though I try to evaluate it honestly, and often benefit from it. After the first sting of the criticism passes , I try to remember the old proverb that goes, “If you stop every time a dog barks, your road will never end.”
FOOLISH LANGUAGE-- Always being an avid reader and with words the tools of my profession , I find books and articles on the definitions and usage of words interesting.
Now and then, we all use meaningless greetings, usually because we don’t know how or don’t want to plunge right into was is really on our minds. For instance, “watchcha doing?” when we can see perfectly well what a person is doing.. Or, asking a person who is stranded beside a road with a flat tire, “Got a flat?”
We can all think of similar greetings such as asking who has returned from a trip, “ You got back?”
The novel, SWEET DREAMS, by Michael Frayn, is a delight for those who appreciate satire and who can see the humor in those inane greetings we all use. For instance, in the novel two men who have long heard of each other but who have never previously met say, “ I thought you’d look entirely different.” and the reply was, “No…no… I look pretty much like this.”
If you see the humor in that exchange of words, you may share my sense of humor which can be a bit weird, I confess , I prefer subtle humor over slapstick any day. My dad, who was a Methodist preacher until his death, shared my love of words and humor. My parents had three daughters and I think I am the only one who thought Daddy was funny when he would stroll through the house chanting loudly verses from Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven.
This same “Daddy” took me with him to a drugstore one Saturday morning when I was about four and was feeling a bit left out as my mother had just given birth to identical twins. When we arrived at the drugstore, Daddy led me to the soda fountain and ordered a large ice cream soda for me and I can still feel the warm glow I felt as I sipped the soda.
Needless to say, there was never a dull moment at home when I was growing up. In a future column , I will write about my remarkable mother who passed away in 2000, still young at heart at age 92 and talking about buying a computer and , “ getting on that Internet and having fun.”
Please Send Coments To olivene21@netscape.net
WATCH ADVICE FOR OWN GOOD, FOOLISH LANGUAGE--
AND DADDY AND THE RAVEN AND CHOCOLATE SODA.
Most of us have had the experience of having someone tell us something for our “own good”. I don’t know about you people but when someone volunteers to tell me something for my own good, I have to restrain myself from giving them a good rap across the mouth.
But, not being a violent person, I react in a more rational manner. I might be boiling inside but I have never struck anyone under those circumstances - yet! Most of us don’t want to know of malicious gossip or any kind of personal criticism that may have been directed against us. I find constructive criticism painful, even though I try to evaluate it honestly, and often benefit from it. After the first sting of the criticism passes , I try to remember the old proverb that goes, “If you stop every time a dog barks, your road will never end.”
FOOLISH LANGUAGE-- Always being an avid reader and with words the tools of my profession , I find books and articles on the definitions and usage of words interesting.
Now and then, we all use meaningless greetings, usually because we don’t know how or don’t want to plunge right into was is really on our minds. For instance, “watchcha doing?” when we can see perfectly well what a person is doing.. Or, asking a person who is stranded beside a road with a flat tire, “Got a flat?”
We can all think of similar greetings such as asking who has returned from a trip, “ You got back?”
The novel, SWEET DREAMS, by Michael Frayn, is a delight for those who appreciate satire and who can see the humor in those inane greetings we all use. For instance, in the novel two men who have long heard of each other but who have never previously met say, “ I thought you’d look entirely different.” and the reply was, “No…no… I look pretty much like this.”
If you see the humor in that exchange of words, you may share my sense of humor which can be a bit weird, I confess , I prefer subtle humor over slapstick any day. My dad, who was a Methodist preacher until his death, shared my love of words and humor. My parents had three daughters and I think I am the only one who thought Daddy was funny when he would stroll through the house chanting loudly verses from Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven.
This same “Daddy” took me with him to a drugstore one Saturday morning when I was about four and was feeling a bit left out as my mother had just given birth to identical twins. When we arrived at the drugstore, Daddy led me to the soda fountain and ordered a large ice cream soda for me and I can still feel the warm glow I felt as I sipped the soda.
Needless to say, there was never a dull moment at home when I was growing up. In a future column , I will write about my remarkable mother who passed away in 2000, still young at heart at age 92 and talking about buying a computer and , “ getting on that Internet and having fun.”
Please Send Coments To olivene21@netscape.net
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