Embracing Silence: Exploring Language's Limits

2. Maybe you guessed; I am a mime.

3. Silence is my specialty.

4. (Oh, the irony, my husband would say.)

5. I am not sure I can do this all period (much to your dismay), but I’ll try.

6. And I am pretty certain mimes don’t use PowerPoint either.

7. Therefore, I am not a very good mime. So don’t ask me to put myself in a box or pretend to eat.

8. The best I can do is make funny faces…

9. and give dirty looks to <insert naughty student’s name here>.

10. Sometimes, however, I think we talk too much and forget to listen.

11. Or say too much when the right words—though fewer— would say even more.

12. Mark Twain said, “The difference between the almost right word and the right word….

13. …is the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”

14. So when you DO speak, choose your words wisely.

15. and when you write, don’t say “nothing in 500 words.”

16. Read the poem “Quiet World.” A volunteer to read aloud would be great!

17. Take out your journals. Title this entry: “October 31: Silence as a WOK”

18. Without talking, free write for 5 mins in your journal about what it would be like to live in the poem’s world. What would you save your words for, for example?

19. Time’s up!

20. Now,

21. Silently trade journals with someone at your table and let them read your words.

22. Time’s up! Get your own journal back.

23. To what extent can language adequately convey knowledge? What about creating it?

24. Have you ever experienced something and words could simply not convey it adequately? Or maybe there just isn’t a word for it….

25. In those cases, we sometimes resort to using • Images • Pictures • Drawings • Metaphors/analogies • Symbols

26. Of course, sometimes, one language just doesn’t have a word for something….

31. “How strangely do we diminish a thing as soon as we try to express it in words” (Maurice Maeterlinck)

32. Douglas Adams (author of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) wrote two books: • The Meaning of Liff • The Deeper Meaning of Liff: A Dictionary of Things There Aren't Any Words for Yet--But There Ought to Be

33. Liff(lif) n. A common object or experience for which no word yet exists. Adams created words to fill these “gaps” in our language. All of the words are actually place names, taken mostly from locations in the UK, but also from the rest of the planet. These place names are matched with meanings that don't yet have words of their own, usually with very humorous results.

34. Here are some examples. (Would the people take turns reading these for us, please? We will start with table 3 and move on.)

35. DUNINO (n.): Someone who always wants to do whatever you want to do. • CLUNES(pl. n.): People who just won't go. • SPURGER (n.): One who in answer to the question 'How are you?' actually tells you. • BAUGHERST (n.): That kind of large fierce ugly woman who owns a small fierce ugly dog. • RHYMNEY (n.): That part of a song lyric which you suddenly discover you've been mishearing for years.

36. Farnham (n.): The feeling you get at about four o'clock in the afternoon when you haven't got enough done. • Fritham (n.): A paragraph that you get stuck on in a book. The more you read it, the less it means to you. • Kabwum (n.): The cutesy humming noise you make as you go to kiss someone on the cheek.

37. ELBONICS (n) The actions of two people maneuvering for an armrest in a cinema. • ELECELLERATION (n) The mistaken notion that the more often, or the harder, you press an elevator button, the faster it will arrive. • DUFTON (n.): The last page of a document that you always leave face down in the photocopier or printer and have to go and retrieve later (maybe your EE???) • SKIBBEREEN (n.): The noise made by a sunburned thigh leaving a plastic chair.

38. SCONSER (n) A person who looks around when talking to you, to see if there's anyone more interesting around. • SHOEBURYNESS (n) The vague uncomfortable feeling you get when sitting on a seat which is still warm from somebody else's bottom. • (from a past IB student): HAYSMITH (n.) that uncomfortable feeling you get when Mr. Smith makes a joke that goes over your head.

39. Oh my gosh! I could do this all day!

40. But now it’s your turn! (Admit it, you knew it was coming.)

41. In your journal, attempt to create your OWN liffs. Provide part of speech and definition.

42. GRAMARAMANIA (N): that anxious feeling you get when your teacher puts you on the spot and expects great and creative things in five minutes. • OPICAD (N): the leftover grey pencil residue left on a paper after one furiously tries to erase a mistake

43. Let’s share! Yes, that means you!

44. Time’s up!

45. Can some powerful, influential person help get the room quiet for me?

46. Thank you for being so quiet today!

47. Ask your self: why do we use language? Is it JUST to share ideas? Or is there something more?

48. We will explore this idea further tomorrow.

49. Journal Homework assignment Choose one of the following quotes. Write a ¾ - 1 page journal response/reflection on related knowledge issues. Due tomorrow. • Language is not only the vehicle of thought; it is a great and efficient instrument in thinking.--Humphrey Davy • The limits of my language stand for the limits of my world.--Ludwig Wittgenstein • Language was given to man to disguise his thoughts. –Tallyrand • The word is half his that speaks and half his that hears it.—Michel de Montaigne

50. Have a great weekend!