Monday, December 15, 2008

I don't know why I think about things like this, but I do.

A conversation about sneezing and the whole ritual of blessing the sneezer and the sneezer thanking the blesser made me bring this up. It's something that I've thought about for years, but never really talked about it with anyone else.

Why? I don't know. Maybe because it's just an odd little thought that pops up every now and then that distracts me.

It's the whole action of applause. Think about it. We are trained from earliest childhood to slap these two bodily appendages together to make noise. When we do it in a crowd it makes a roaring sound that, if we're on the receiving end, makes us surprisingly happy.

If we watched critters and saw them, in unison, slap body parts together to express approval, we would marvel at the weirdness and the sheer raw animal-ness of it.

Look! They're making noise by slapping their fins together. Animals are so weird.

Yet we all do it all the time and think nothing of it. We hear music, see a show, or someone makes a great speech and as a group with beat our palms together to make this noise. People are so weird.

Just a thought for Monday morning. Carry on.

3 comments:

Sandra Ruttan said...

"If we watched critters and saw them, in unison, slap body parts together to express approval, we would marvel at the weirdness and the sheer raw animal-ness of it."

I don't know, but then, we don't greet other people by sniffing their backside so maybe some animals are a little weirder than we are.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Yes, and if the appreciation accelerates we cheer and stamp our feet. It's all about noise.

ukdissertation.co.uk/Masters_Dissertation.htm said...

Nice attempt, very helpful, this topic why I think about things like this, but I do. will assist me to complete my assignment. Thanks