Saturday 17 April 2010

Opinions with balls

I wonder how much attention we normally pay to the forest of words we encounter as we go about our business in the city.  It was only when I started looking closely that I became aware of the way words insinuate themselves into our consciousness, sometimes with shock tactics, sometimes more subtly....








With so many claims on my attention, my senses become overloaded and I become deaf to their pleas and suspicious of their claims.  It is with relief that I head homewards, settling myself on my train and looking forward to a quiet hour. But my peace is soon disturbed by the man sitting next to me who opens up his laptop and taps away furiously for the entire journey - a sea of words floating on his screen, a cacophany of distorted words emanating from his iPod headphones.  With a sigh, I pull out my book - if you can't beat them....

2 comments:

  1. Haha- funny end!- and some funny observations/pictures! Yes, you are right: "my senses become overloaded"- but now imagine the feeling of a foreigner who tries to translate some of thoses phrases and often doesn't understand them, for example "opinions with balls"- there may be any sense, any allusion, and some subsence/connotation? But one word I know well (almost the same in German), and I'm sure you suffered from the "cacophony of distorted words emanating from his iPod headphones"- and you are so right! Nothing can beat a book, the sounds of silence, and the book will never die!

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  2. Even though you may not understand all the words, you probably get the sense of what is being portrayed from the picture. Opinions with balls was advertising a female newpaper columnist who is not afraid of airing confrontational opinions, more in the manner of a man - hence the 'with balls'! I agree - the best companion on a journey is definitely a good book.

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