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[ 2 Minute read ]
Continuing my theme from yesterday afternoon (15:29) on 'Things aren't quite what they seem' from 'Dangerously Lost in Translation'. click here: The Kate Bush Interview
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I haven't got a clue
I keep bumping into Matt; it turns out that, that is the name of the Don who runs 'The Tomato Plant and Apple Gatherer' family in my road. He looks and talks normal; so normal that I would never guess he has heard of Noam Chomsky or Ludwig Wittgenstein. He launched into a speech on language acquisition. The funny thing is; he says he is interested in their approach to language development in children. He said his interest is in how children pick up language in the home. I mentioned 'prosody' to show him I care! You know, a verbal hug. I then said, 'Aren't we talking about behavioural and developmental psychology?' He wanted to leave then. I suppose, I don't know what I am talking about. I haven't got a clue.
Interestingly, he said I am soft-spoken. I have never been accused of that before! I told him there is a raging fury inside of me. He didn't blink.
'Measured.' he offered. 'You are soft-spoken with us.' He pointed to Hugo, his four-year old. He has already trained Hugo to get as many advantages as possible. I had just bought a four-pack of toilet paper and it was in my bicycle basket. Hugo wanted me to share it. Poor lad desperately wants to have a long conversation with me about really long sweets that taste of strawberry and mango. Bless him! I haven't got a clue what to say about weird sweets. I could tell him what I used to eat but describing something to a four-year-old is like re-learning a foreign language you never knew in the first place, but thinking you are fluent. Slippery language is essential for communicating with infants, I find.
Measured! Slow-speaker! Maybe that's why people walk off from me when I am mid-lecture. My monologues are always crisp, fruity and fun, except, I suppose, if someone listens too quickly. The trouble is, I never talk from my core; only from a solid rampart. I told Matt, the tomato plant snatcher, that my speech is measured because I am educated; I am guarded. I shall speed up my speech. 'Think excited, Martin.' That way people will think I am smarter, I suppose. Slow-speaker!
'In a good way.' Matt assured me. 'Boring!' I thought.