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Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Language In Thought And Action

Who knows what gestures mean? Some seem definite but are they? Are they really? To illustrate, I shall post a short film taken by my wife. It was made last year of me performing a private retirement dance. My son posted it on Youtube and called it, "Geezer dances until told to stop". They thought it might make me a famous dancer, which I considered optimistic over a career of only 16 seconds.

Turns out the 16-second gravel dance gathered over 180 views, which is famous enough for me, but recently I was told I could sensationalize the title and greatly expand my audience. I am uncertain of the process, but consider "Geezer convulses and hoarks up a hip-bone" a strong favorite. It wouldn't be truthful, but those expert in dance gesture assure me no one could tell until the end of the clip.


5 comments:

  1. I saw that then, and I don't think I was one of the 180 responders. Pretty good for a geezer like you who hadn't been AFAIK dancing continuously like moi, your old teacher/trance dancer. Coolness, indeed! So are you still hoofing it up?

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  2. Thanks Willie!

    I believe you must have been attracted by the title, which was the same as your old classroom text by S.I. Hayakawa. It must have made some impression on me because I remember it was green. Big green paperback. As for dancing, I'm obviously in a class by myself.

    Geo.

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  3. Well, of course I remembered that but forgot to include a reference to it in my post. Poor old S.I.: he was another example of the persecuted becoming a persecutor, somewhat like the dominating parties in Israel. Remember his reign of terror as prez at SF State? "Language in Thought and Action" indeed!

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  4. That's just amazing, Geo. Keep on dancing. The glimpse into your garden is beautiful. I hope the two of you enjoy your retirement immensly. Annie B.

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  5. Thank you Annie B.! Life has many pleasures, but few so dance-able as phoning work one morning and calling in old.

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