Hello all. Back after a bit of an odyssey, and thought you might like to tilt at this…

I wonder how many of us here speak in sentences? How many, if any, even attempt to do so?

I think this stems partly from a passage I read in David Crystal's "Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Language": a transcript from the Watergate Tapes. The particular passage I refer to is apparently the crucial one in which Nixon (or one of his senior aides) actually makes the incriminating statements regarding bribes and other shady deals. The transcript itself could not convey, of course, intonation, pause length, rising tones and the like. Even so, as purely written language, it was well nigh incomprehensible. I presume that whoever prosecuted the Watergate affair (in the media and otherwise), could not have relied upon the transcripts themselves, since they seem virtually to be gibberish, but used the tapes themselves, where the voices would, perhaps, help make some sense possible.

I have also read works in which people have been praised for speaking in complete sentences. I believe Oscar Wilde may have been one such recipient of kudos.

Finally (why are my preambles longer than my posts?), in a former life, I used to make a fair number of presentations, and was once told that people were intimidated by them, because I used 'long words' when I spoke.

On a Board like this, as we might say, the sesquipedalian attitude is the prevalent one, and most classic English literature doesn't shy away from it either. So it was a surprise to me to discover that most people regard me as I (when a child) regarded grown ups - they used long words like oxygen and democracy, and so they seemed to be speaking a different language.

Yes, I confess, I do try to speak in sentences. I often, since I also have the habit of changing my mind mid-sentence, also get into the most convoluted periods. No doubt we have all seen these parodied in works that contain dialogue like: "So now, you see, I know that she knows that I know what she thinks I think…. I think."

So - how many of you speak in sentences, or try to? And do people think you're strange if you do?

cheer

the sunshine warrior