Thursday, June 19, 2008

Doubletalk About Firetrucks...!

When I was young and still in school, I had a friend named Biff. I'm not kidding...that was his name! Anyway, Biff and I had sort of a hobby and that was that we would find these nonsensical sayings, commit them to memory, and then throw them out at the first opportunity in every conversation. Most made no sense...most were silly...but if you said them fast enough and from memory, people would just stand there with their mouths open trying their best to figure out what you just said. this is one of those examples...

Why are firetrucks always red and rushin' ? Well, first there's jitterbugging!
One jitterbug has two feet, two jitterbug has four feet.
Four times three is twelve.
Twelve inches make a ruler.
Queen Mary was a ruler,
Queen Mary ruled the Seven Seas.
The Seven Seas had fishes,
The fishes had fins,
The Russians beat the Fins...
The Russians are red...
And that's why firetrucks are red and rushin' !

You see what I mean? It is complete nonsense! Makes no sense at all, nor is it supposed to! The whole point of double talk is to say something from memory, say it fast enough so that even when people hear it they don't understand it, and to make it silly enough that some folks will smile in spite of themselves.

If you think that this sort of silliness won't make people smile...then try this. You take this little saying that I just wrote, and you read it out loud to someone as fast as you can...or even to yourself, and you see if you don't get a smile. You'll probably get some funny looks as well! People will say things like "I don't understand.." and "What does that mean..?" and " That's silly..!" and my personal favorite "HUH...?"

I know, I know...It is silly, It doesn't make sense, It serves no purpose at all except to be something to make people smile a little and to lighten things up. That's all it is for! That's IT!!

Now if you think that you don't need a little silliness in your life, then consider this an exercise. I can guarantee that once you say this out loud, it will pop up in your mind from time to time without warning. Like a bad song, you just won't be able to totally get rid of it. And that's OK...if you have to have something floating around your mind, might as well be something you can have some fun with, right?? Right!!

Now, let's go get some coffee!!

9 comments:

Cat Melton said...

Ok Ok....

I I don't don't get get it it...lol

(Can't wait to see what it's all about...is this just a teaser?)

I'm Smiling,
Cat

ps Pardon my attempt at double talk above, just being silly...

HermitJim said...

Hey Cat...pardon the slip! I posted in error while writing and just the title got posted! Confusing even more todays confusing post! Try reading it now and see if it's any better!

See ya
Jim

Anonymous said...

Did the same as Cat - we're just always ready to see what you have to say, I guess!
But, I remember you and Biff doing this!! And yes, I still smile.....

Cat Melton said...

Eggsellent!!!

I had a friend in jr high that I could talk to like that...'twas much fun.

Thanks for the memories...lol

Cat

HermitJim said...

Hey Cat...glad to help bring back some good memories and some smiles. That is what life is all about...sharing a smile, right?

See ya at TE..
Jim

Manu said...

Hi Jim,

this gave me a big smile, thank you. I rarly pass on a dose of silliness, we all need silliness in our lifes and need to take things lighter.
One of my mottos is: "The world is seriouse enough, why add to it?"

Have a silly day.

HermitJim said...

Hey Manu...thanks for stopping by! You are absolutely correct! Silliness and humor makes the medicine go down smoother! Laughter is a great healer in many things and if you can laugh at ourself once in a while, everything will be all right!

Jim

xox-Missi Mi-xox said...

Well I really love a bit of silly. One of my favourite silly comments is if you cant smile then stand on your head .... Why? because you will look like your smiling and you will look so silly that even if you cant laugh at yourself you will still bring smile to others.

Anonymous said...

Missi - hey that's a good point.
I also heard standing on your head was good for that gravity effect.
so smiling and gravity - double win!