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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Speaking of Silent Verbals .... my designator has changed ... Thanks for the "heads up" Helen!
Son-uv-a-gun!
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Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear Lawrence-I-mean-musick,
Man, you ask a tough question! I think, by a near-tie between losing hearing and speech (I can think of only two fates worse than being blinded: being paralyzed, and death by drowning), I think I have to come down on the side of preferring to keep my speech. I could read lips to get what people were saying. My thoughts run so fast that often even my speech can't keep up with them, and I fear that trying to get them across by any other means would make me frenzied with frustration.
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Joined: Jan 2001
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
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I can't believe that so few people have chosen to lose sight! I guess that shows how different we all are! That was the obvious choice to me. Already I am at the point where I am essentially useless without my glasses - I have memorized how to walk through my house because it's just too treacherous to depend on fuzzy vision when I don't have my glasses on. I can't distinguish colour at a distance without my glasses. And my night vision is terrible, even with glasses. But not to ever hear music, the radio, my husband's voice, my purring cat, or be able to talk to my family on the phone...I am too dependent on my ears. I used to listen to TV more than I would watch it (the pictures never held much interest for me). I am a radio addict (CBC rules!). Between my husband and me, we have something like 300-400 CDs, six musical instruments, a very small project studio...And my voice - I love to talk! If we didn't have these unlimited evening calling phone plans I don't know WHAT I would do! So, it would have to be sight, for me. But I hope that it never comes to that, for me or anyone here! 
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old hand
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old hand
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I would definitely have to go with losing speech. Even though I rather enjoy the sound of my voice, I don't think I would be able to stand not seeing what's around me or hearing music. I often prefer to observe situations more than engaging in them. Plus, there's always writing. The question basically comes down to whether you prefer to receive or give out information.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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OK, what are silent verbals?
You have been summonsed, Sparts - don't keep a Pooh-Bah waitin'!
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Pooh-Bah
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OP
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
The statement was made during a sports chat, and the subject was collegiate recruiting.
As a reminder to non-Merkins [ducking from darts thrown by Dr Bill], in the US, collegiate sports is Big Business. Successful programs pull in millions of dollars a year for their universities, and result in increased applications for admittance. So, the competition for the best athletes is fierce, and coaching staffs recruit athletes to come to their schools. Recruiting efforts include visits to the colleges and much sweet-talking
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) governs the conduct of its members, including recruitment practices. Among the NCAA rules governing recruitment are restrictions on when a college can contact a potential recruit, and when a college can sign a recruit to a binding letter of intent. Once the athlete signs a binding letter of intent, he is bound to go to the intended college, and recruitment by other colleges must cease. There are two periods during the year, both brief - a week, maybe? - when an athlete can sign a letter of intent.
A "verbal" is a verbal commitment made by an athlete before he can sign a letter of intent; the verbal commitment is just the athlete saying to the coaching staff of a particular school, "I have decided to go to your college and will sign the letter of intent when the signing period comes." Verbals aren't formally binding, but are usually - not always - adhered to.
A "silent verbal" is a verbal commitment by an athlete which carries with it a request that the college not make the commitment public; usually, this is because the athlete doesn't want to stop the wining and dining he still has coming from other colleges who don't know that he has already made his choice. Right now, we are in the pre-letter period but close to the point at which a lot of basketball and football recruits are making decisions, and so the speaker observed that we are in the days of the silent verbals right now.
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addict
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addict
Joined: Jan 2001
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I'd prefer to lose sight rather than hearing or speech, and I definitely agree with those for whom hearing is the most important of the three. I have very often heard people express an opinion that losing their sight would be the worst thing for them. I wonder how many of them have actually thought about how, in Helen Keller's words, being deaf "separates us from people" (thanks, Brandon). Losing communication with the people around me would be the worst thing for me.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
Thank you Sparteye, for that enlightening answer... the idea of "silent verbals" reminded me of advice I once received for dealing with lawyers:
"Never write anything if you can say it.
Never say anything if you can nod.
Never nod if you can smile."
Would that qualify a smile or a nod as a silent verbal, taken in a broader sense?
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
"As a reminder to non-Merkins [ducking from darts thrown by Dr Bill],"
Dear Sparteye: Why do you continue to prefer an obscenity to my suggestion of "merikins" ?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 6,511 |
Dr Bill,
honi soit que mal y pense.
(pmf®)
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