What I Mean Is ...
In the interest of more accurate communication, I am hereby not going to say "Fuck you" when I'm angry, or "sleep with" when I mean, uh..., make love. But that's just the beginning.
I'm also going to have to drop all the "fuck you" accouterments, i.e., no more flipping people off.
This is going to be hard.
As an LA girl who learned to drive on LA streets in LA traffic, flipping people off has digressed from something one did in a fit of pique, to a sort of grouchy hello. Nearly anything can cause it. It's become second nature, even now when I hardly ever see, much less am in, traffic.
Not only is it second nature, but, as with most things that are pervasive, it's lost its meaning. It's like "wow" in the 60's, or "like" right now - said so often, it doesn't mean anything.
What we're really communicating, in sign, when we flip someone off, is that we don't hold them in high esteem. We feel they don't understand how to interact effectively in social circumstances, and they have committed a faux pas.
How then, should that be communicated?
It comes to mind that there could be a signal for small minded people, made by closing the fist, and holding the index finger about two inches from the thumb: horizontally, for an offending man; and vertically, for a woman.
Perhaps the following visualization exercises, while making the signal, would be effective accompaniments.
I'm also going to have to drop all the "fuck you" accouterments, i.e., no more flipping people off.
This is going to be hard.
As an LA girl who learned to drive on LA streets in LA traffic, flipping people off has digressed from something one did in a fit of pique, to a sort of grouchy hello. Nearly anything can cause it. It's become second nature, even now when I hardly ever see, much less am in, traffic.
Not only is it second nature, but, as with most things that are pervasive, it's lost its meaning. It's like "wow" in the 60's, or "like" right now - said so often, it doesn't mean anything.
What we're really communicating, in sign, when we flip someone off, is that we don't hold them in high esteem. We feel they don't understand how to interact effectively in social circumstances, and they have committed a faux pas.
How then, should that be communicated?
It comes to mind that there could be a signal for small minded people, made by closing the fist, and holding the index finger about two inches from the thumb: horizontally, for an offending man; and vertically, for a woman.
Perhaps the following visualization exercises, while making the signal, would be effective accompaniments.
posted by Kitty O'Keefe at 7:04 AM
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