I kind of feel as though it's time that I write a well structured essay. To me, it felt like my first two blogs had way too much rambling invloved. I suppose the last one had potential. I mean, all my main points were bulleted, and I even had subcategories. But then somehow I started talking about going to college and Barack Obama. What was that all about?
So in the course of analyzing how such a diversion could happen, I was reminded of this whole idea about words, and how they (meaning words) can produce subconscious networks of association. In other words, you think of other things when you hear words, even when you don't realize you are doing so. I actually expanded on this one time when I wrote a little article called the "power of words." It was based on a study I had some students of mine complete. (We talk about words in this one class that I teach). It's all basically about mind control.
This whole conversation about what happens to a brain when a word goes into it reminds me of how versatile some words are, which also reminded me about this one time when I used the word "soggy" in two very different ways in the span of a couple days. The first time, I was talking to a good friend of mine over some sort of digitized messaging system. I was looking at a still photograph that was stored in the byte of a web, I think. It was in this case that I used the word "soggy" to describe the predictable actions of said fellow. Actually it was about a piece of paper, not really my friend.
The second time I used "soggy" was when I was commenting on the cool vibe my brother had going on when he was climbing over the Great Wall of China. I remember being frustrated that I wasn't able to achieve the same vibe because the venison stick I was trying to light up was too soggy. So I just kept it hanging in my mouth trying to act like I'd toke up later when it was more convenient.
This also gets me thinking of all the other ways the word "soggy" could be applied in one's life. For instance, if a group of people were looking for a good picnic spot and they asked you how the ground was over there, you could say "well, I don't know, it looks pretty soggy to me." And they'll say "Oh, okay. I guess we'll find another spot." This is a very useful ploy, because you may have been saving that picnic spot for your own group of friends. Here's where the versatility of the word "soggy" comes in. It's such a subjective word, that even if they called you out on it (because the ground probably wasn't soggy since you were trying to save it for your own friends), you could just say "oh, I guess it must have been the dew."
Another good demonstration of the versatility of "soggy" is if you happen to be watching someone play a pinball game at a roller skating rink. Lets say you get so excited that you pee your pants. Usually, you'd be in a mess of trouble. First of all, the roller rink workers don't have extra pants and underwear, they only have lots of shoes with wheels attached to them, so that's not an option. You might be wearing black sweat pants, which is probably your best bet of sneaking out of there with none the wiser, but in the dreadful case when someone comes up to you and says, "Dude . . . did you just pee? Your pants are all wet?" You should probably respond something like this, "actually they're just soggy." Hopefully by then the person will forget all about it and keep playing the pinball game.
In conclusion, that last story probably never happened to me. I was probably remembering what happened to someone else . . . Besides you don't really want a picnic spot with dew all over the place anyways, you can't really walk around since you might slip. Plus the blanket might get soggy.
So in the course of analyzing how such a diversion could happen, I was reminded of this whole idea about words, and how they (meaning words) can produce subconscious networks of association. In other words, you think of other things when you hear words, even when you don't realize you are doing so. I actually expanded on this one time when I wrote a little article called the "power of words." It was based on a study I had some students of mine complete. (We talk about words in this one class that I teach). It's all basically about mind control.
This whole conversation about what happens to a brain when a word goes into it reminds me of how versatile some words are, which also reminded me about this one time when I used the word "soggy" in two very different ways in the span of a couple days. The first time, I was talking to a good friend of mine over some sort of digitized messaging system. I was looking at a still photograph that was stored in the byte of a web, I think. It was in this case that I used the word "soggy" to describe the predictable actions of said fellow. Actually it was about a piece of paper, not really my friend.
The second time I used "soggy" was when I was commenting on the cool vibe my brother had going on when he was climbing over the Great Wall of China. I remember being frustrated that I wasn't able to achieve the same vibe because the venison stick I was trying to light up was too soggy. So I just kept it hanging in my mouth trying to act like I'd toke up later when it was more convenient.
This also gets me thinking of all the other ways the word "soggy" could be applied in one's life. For instance, if a group of people were looking for a good picnic spot and they asked you how the ground was over there, you could say "well, I don't know, it looks pretty soggy to me." And they'll say "Oh, okay. I guess we'll find another spot." This is a very useful ploy, because you may have been saving that picnic spot for your own group of friends. Here's where the versatility of the word "soggy" comes in. It's such a subjective word, that even if they called you out on it (because the ground probably wasn't soggy since you were trying to save it for your own friends), you could just say "oh, I guess it must have been the dew."
Another good demonstration of the versatility of "soggy" is if you happen to be watching someone play a pinball game at a roller skating rink. Lets say you get so excited that you pee your pants. Usually, you'd be in a mess of trouble. First of all, the roller rink workers don't have extra pants and underwear, they only have lots of shoes with wheels attached to them, so that's not an option. You might be wearing black sweat pants, which is probably your best bet of sneaking out of there with none the wiser, but in the dreadful case when someone comes up to you and says, "Dude . . . did you just pee? Your pants are all wet?" You should probably respond something like this, "actually they're just soggy." Hopefully by then the person will forget all about it and keep playing the pinball game.
In conclusion, that last story probably never happened to me. I was probably remembering what happened to someone else . . . Besides you don't really want a picnic spot with dew all over the place anyways, you can't really walk around since you might slip. Plus the blanket might get soggy.
1 comment:
Good words.
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