Everybody?

I just watched the 60 minute interview with Barack and Michelle Obama. I cannot imagine a finer, more intelligent, more down-to-earth and pleasant couple. I am so proud of my country for overcoming our years of savage and unremitting racism and voting for a black (and white) President. They are going to make a marvelous first couple and we should all be proud of them. Barack Obama has the potential to become one of our greatest Presidents and certainly has greater problems to face that most Presidents in the past (apart from FDR). We should not allow the surviving Brafia to try to bring him down as they did with Bill Clinton. If we all pull together we may in fact overcome the disastrous nightmare years of Bush/Cheney.


One of the peculiarities of American speech that has always amazed me, by its total lack of precision, but commonplace usage, is the phrase “everybody knows,” or “everybody does,” or “everybody feels,” or everybody.something or other. We hear this all the time, and not just in Everybody Loves Raymond. Everybody knows that America is a “center-right” country. First of all it is obvious that not everybody even knows what center-right refers to, and secondly, if they knew it, it would certainly be the case that not everybody would think so. How about “everybody loves apple pie?” I, for one, do not love apple pie, although I will eat it if served to me. Sometimes these claims are so outrageous that no one takes them seriously, recognizing it is just a figure of speech, and some of these claims are somewhere closer to the truth than others. “Everybody votes,” would not be taken seriously, but how about “everybody loves a winner” (even this is questionable because everybody loves a good loser?). Everybody loves Obama would not be taken literally, of course. What about “everybody values their freedom?” It seems to me if this were literally true no one would get married or agree to go into debt. “Everybody loves democracy,” is questionable because millions of people have never experienced democracy and don’t understand what it is. While we might want to believe that “everybody loves America,” it is pretty obvious this is not the case. Thus every time you hear someone say everyone…, you know it is not true. But people say these things all the time, and all the time we think to ourselves, “that is not true,” but only occasionally do we bother to challenge the speaker. It seem to be the case that if it is something that you, yourself love, you are much more apt to believe it (even then you know that realistically it is not true). So we go on year after year making these grandiose pronouncements that we know are false, and our listeners let them go unchallenged even though they don’t believe them. It’s like a conspiracy to avoid thought or reality at all costs, where opinions replace facts and conversation can proceed uninterruptedly. Once when I was riding in a car with a woman friend, she suddenly announced, “everybody loves prunes.” I looked at her with disbelief but said nothing. After a pause she said, “well, some people like prunes.” I remained politely silent. Then, after a long pause, she continued with a sigh, “well, I like prunes.” An honest woman, were there more like her.

There is a flip side to this strange speech phenomena as well. Just this afternoon someone said to me “nobody like the Vikings” (the football team). I said, foolishly, of course, some people like the Vikings, they are their home team. We were both aware we were just making conversation, drivel, that is. But you find the same transparent falsehoods when saying “nodody likes…” as you do when saying everybody likes…”Nobody likes a dictator.” How about those who support dictators? “Nobody likes okra” (I am srongly inclined to believe this). “Nobody likes B.O.” (there are millions of people who don’t even think about B.O.). “Nobody likes a crook” (except his mother or those who profit by him). “Nobody likes Bush” (except for the roughly 28% who apparently do. And I guess Laura must like him, too). “Nobody likes a bully” (I think this may be pretty close to as universal as we can get). “Nobody likes Thomas Woolf (any more, except those who do still like him and form groups to discuss him, etc.). “Nobody likes a loser,” except those who do. “Nobody likes Dick Cheney” (a truism?). How about “nobody likes people who waste their time with nonsense” (I apologize, it’s Sunday).

Where, by the way, is Warshington? John McCain and others speak of this place all the time.


LKBIQ:
Because we don't think about future generations, they will never forget us.
Henrik Tikkanen


TILT: Swiss cheese is called that in the U.S. because it resembles Swiss Emmental.