Language Samples

The following are from "The Loafer" which I picked up at the campus post office

#4 - In an advertisement for The Loafer online I read, "Drop us an email at:"

I was struck by the use of the word "drop". I thought of how I used to hear it as, "drop on by" "drop me a line", etc. Now it has been added to email, another form of communication. This of course is not to be taken literally, you can't drop an email on someone, but it gives us a visual to go along with what is being said.

#5 - This was in an article for the next Teller In Residence. Talking about looking for her birth mother, finding her (and that not going well), then deciding to try to reconnect, she found out she had died of cancer. She says, "I got her story after she was dead, when I couldn't really get into her head or her heart." How strange if the English language were only literal. Again, she wasn't talking about literally cutting into her head or heart, but instead is giving us a picture of how she desired to connect with her mother on an emotional (heart) and intellectual (head) way, which she was no longer able to do after she had passed away.

# 6 - In another advertisement, this time for "Massage Essentials" a line reads, "How do you recharge?" Just above the line is a picture of a car battery with jumper cables. I like this comparison. Sometimes we do feel like we need a jump start, or sometime to encourage us or energize us to keep going. I've heard people say, "I need to recharge my batteries" which we take to me, relax. What better way to relax and get ready for whatever is ahead than a massage is the message being sent.

The next one was from class last night, a quote from David when we were talking about different sounds, which ones can be mimicked by watching and which ones can't be. He started talking about ventriloquism.

#7 - "Throw the voice." We know this means that you make your voice sound like it is coming from somewhere other than your own mouth, as if you were throwing a ball, it starts in your hand but lands somewhere else. When you throw your voice, it starts in your body but lands for people to hear in a different space.

This one I found as I was looking at facebook this morning.

#8 - In answer to a friend's question about whether or not they could hang out in the evening, my friend (who is in high school) replied:

"So it'll most likely be a yes because I've got [my dad] wrapped around my finger." Again it gives a picture for us to see, or allows us to take into consideration our own experience. Something wrapped around a finger goes wherever the finger goes and does whatever the finger does, just as her father, in this case, is described as doing whatever she wants him to do (which in this case is giving permission)

I was listening to a sermon on my ipod this morning. It is from Northpoint Ministries and was dated as 9/22/08, but as I said, I just listened to it this morning. He was talking about the role of people in authority and how we ought to respond (especially when we don't agree).

#9 - When someone tells you what to do, the issue is not what but who.

This had a nice rhythm to it when he said it. It has the same rhythm as "To be or not to be, that is the question". The emphasis is on some, tells, what, do, iss, is, what, who. It also rhymes. which always seems pleasing to the ear, or complete. And, because of our class last night I noticed the "wh" repeating (would that be alliteration?) with "when...what...what...who". "When" is replaced by "who" in the sentence, it seems like a nice pattern.