A word to the wise

Do you go with the flow? Turn on a dime? Breeze through? I’ve written before about tiny nuances of language that fascinate me. Experiments of what to say to yourself and others, for  encouragement, to make decisions, to exchange and learn ideas more easily, may not be easy, but absolutely worthwhile.

For example, I’ve worked with a client whose hearing is great, but whose neural pathways process language slowly. “Who, what, why, where, when” questions freeze his brain solid. I’ve learned to get his attention by adding a few opening sounds to my sentences so that he gets to warm up, especially if I’m going to ask him a question. “So, hey, ‘name of client,’ what do you think of…?”

If you breeze through, time might fly. You can build up an entire vocabulary including your inflections and pace, images, even music and activities that support your preferences – I hum “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” from Mary Poppins every once in a while when I need cheering up. I (usually) breeze through things.

For a truly intense examination of how deeply language affects us, this September 21, 2012 Psychology Today Masculine or Feminine? (And Why It Matters) article by Steven B. Jackson about grammar and sexism is frightening.