Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Communicating

“I had never learned how to talk like a girl, the way Rae could…my natural language was all private. What came out when I spoke was only a hacked-up version of the thoughts that lay graceful and complete in my brain.”

Rich In Love – Josephine Humphreys


I can relate to this quotation - both the talking like a girl part and the hidden private language bit. Perhaps it explains one of the reasons I love to write, communicate via the written word. When I speak, my words seem jumbled to me. The sense of them, the meaning – all that I truly want to say – never seem just right. If I’m unable to articulate all those graceful thoughts, at least I can attempt to express them on paper.

I wonder if this brain to mouth malfunction is the reason I was never very good at flirting? I’m still not.

And just in case that first quotation wasn’t perfectly clear, here’s an even better one to explain the (my) dilemma.

"When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it."

A. A. Milne

15 comments:

Deidra said...

I know exactly what you mean. I find it so much easier to write what I'm thinking than to actually say it. It makes perfect sense in my head and then I open my mouth and...oh brother! The quotes are absolutely perfect!

Sherry said...

You, me and WTP...it can be such a botheration..I've always loved that bit from Milne!!!

oreneta said...

Milne is simply so wonderful....

Bee said...

I forgot about the novel Rich in Love . . . a good one, from what I can remember and this lovely quote.

I think that the majority of us have Pooh's problem. (Isn't that word "thingish" wonderful?)

Reeny's Ramblin' said...

I hear ya. I too have always prefered to write, thoughts do come out a little clearer that way. Keyword = a little.

Beth said...

deidra:
Sometimes I think, if I could only speak with more care, slowly...

sherry lee:
What a great threesome!

oreneta:
A quotation for every occasion...

bee:
And yet another book...
"Thingish" "Botheration" (from sherry's comment) - delightful words!

reeny:
Oh, your thoughts are always clear when you write! (To me, anyway.)

Seraphine said...

i can relate.
i always think of things to say after the moment has passed. i guess its easy to be witty in hindsight.
or maybe it just sounds better in my head than when i say it.

laughingwolf said...

not a girl, so can't relate :(

'the tao of pooh', benjamin hoff, is one of my alltime fave books :)

The Bodhi Chicklet said...

What comes out of my mouth is often blustery. My tongue seems to have a life of its own, alas. Er, uh, wialkdak?

Beth said...

seraphine:
The dialogues I have in my head before, during and after "the moment" are simply amazing...

laughingwolf:
So, only females experience this? Or men do but are oblivious to it? ;)

bodhi chicklet:
Strangely enough, that word made perfect sense to me - I've probably uttered it myself. ;)

Cipriano said...

It is difficult to say the right thing.
It is easier [I believe] to write it.
And yet, here is the conundrum:
It is easier to misinterpret what is written.
Because the tone is absent. As is the immediacy of response.
Too much jet-lag between the simple question, "What do you mean?"
And the answer.

laughingwolf said...

i mean the girlie aspects of it, guyz are a bit different... as ye nose! ;) lol

Anonymous said...

I'm always more comfortable "behind the scene", i.e writing, taking pictures or drawing.

I used to be miserable if I had to talk in public, but after 4 years of teaching, I think I'm cured.

I'm still more comfortable writing though and I spontaneously give out my email more easily than my cell phone number.

Cheryl said...

I have always wanted to be an eloquent speaker. Like Stephen Fry or Salman Rushdie or anyone else who speaks with clarity and wit even off the top of their head. Instead I tend to talk like I'm trying to find my way through the fog. Where am I going? What am I trying to say here? At least with writing I can delete all the nonsensical stuff.

~h~ said...

Milne is a keeper. Always. I stumbled here somehow and am so glad I did. I've often referred to my son as my hero sandwich thanks to Milne. :)