A pig with six legs......
Hullo ma wee blog,
I have spent an enjoyable hour or two surfing down the back of the interweb bloggery thing and visited some favourite blogs from here, there and everywhere covering almost any topic from hobbies to the life affirming quality of daily existence in all its spectrum from mundane to exuberant joy. I've been reading latest posts and backtracking down the lanes of posts done and dusted, many unread until now and some favourite posts which I've gone back to once or twice {or more} before. I've looked at followers and tracked through into some of their blogs to see if I find anything which tweaks my interest or my conscience so I may visit again. I've listed a couple on my favourites list so I can track them down again when I have time or curiosity strikes.
Some of my favourite blogs, the ones I have been following, and the ones I am most familiar with, have over time shown individual personalities and now as I read them I am no longer hearing my inner me reading them to me in my head but they have become distinct accents, familiar ways of speaking, some slow and measured, some bursting with enthusiasm, fun, love, boredom, irony; some worried, some frustrated, some laconic and some softly serene. Characters of people I have never met and from places I have never been. I wonder if the images I feel and voices I hear are anything close to the people that write the words I'm reading. Only one do I know what the voice really sounds like, and that only today from a video clip posted.
I've never really thought about it before. I always considered it as a conversation, like a letter from a friend or a relative, but then the voice is familiar and I always hear that voice as I read the words. I've been wondering today about my efforts. Of course when 'I' read them over I hear me, but I wonder what you hear? I know if the accent grated on your ear then you wouldn't be reading any more so you must be hearing something. So is it me or is it you talking to you? The history thing probably confuses the issue perhaps as I get all strait laced.
It's amazing how I can post a thought out there in the ether along with all those other words, thoughts, languages and somehow it gets to those that want it and hangs there for others to stumble on. I wonder if it will always be there now. Is it our little bit of immortality. Its not what I considered when I started the blog.
If it is, maybe I should be picking my game up.
But that's for another time. The inane ramble is over for tonight as its now 2.15am and sleep is quietly calling for once. So I'll be off and try not to clumsily stumble going up the stairs or wake the lovely G as I climb into bed.
See you later.
Listening to Supertramp 'Babaji'
7 comments:
It's odd isn't it, that "anyone" can share your thoughts and be party to what you commit to your blog. Sometimes I am aware of my "audience", sometimes I write specifically for my friends or family, sometimes I just HAVE to write. Recently I've not had my creative head on and so everything has been makeweight, trivial. There are worries which intercede with the creative thoughts.
I love blog-hopping too, but best of all, I like the comfort of blogging-friends - as you say, each of us has a distinctive style and way of writing, themes we return to, that wonderful rapport between us and regular visitors who have become good friends, for all we have never met.
I don't know what you look like Al( you've never let us see you, although I have always assumed a younger version of that photo of your dad ? I don't know what you sound like either but obviously with that nice East coast twang ,,
The lovely G will have a similar twang but with a slight mid European lilt to it ?
And of course, I'm sure you'll have me down as some angry old swearing Glesca geezer when in fact I'm a charming, easy going, happy-go-lucky young guy from the West coast who loves life with all it's little idiosyncrasies !
We really must meet one day for a pint and sort out all these misconceptions ?
Hullo Scudder,
Actually I had you down as a {Glesca} cross between George Clooney and Rab C Nesbit. Sort of like a psychopath who widnae ken whit character tae inhabit if it wisnae fur his faimly keepin him sane - maist o the time onywey.
Me, well I'm Ayrshire, not east coast but with the edges brushed off having worked all over the uk {they didnae get me when I got angry without me toning it well and truly down}
G was raised mainly in Fife and only really sounds foreign when speaking Swiss-German. She was quite posh when I met her and thought I spoke a foreign language when talking to Dad. Now though she is well versed in spyugs, fankles, glaikit, driech and the like, though I,m not sure she knows the difference between stoor and ooss!
And I,m shy {and pug ugly} which is why no photo's of me. The lovely G was originally very sceptical of blogging and insisted no photos, but at least she now occasionally reads the posts - more from a 'censorship' perspective perhaps though.
They have all had the seal of approval except 'Bloomin French' so far, so thats only a 1% disapproval rate which is better than most areas of life I can tell you!
A pint one day would be nice.....
regards......Al.
So, was that cloud put there by Pink Floyd? I am fascinated by the new communities that we have built up through blogging. You articulate well the fun of it, and the uncertainties and assumptions about the face we present on here. I like the chance discoveries as much as anything - I guess we started following each other simply because you liked my header picture of Knoydart? (And for your information, although I live in Essex, I have a non-descript south east English accent, with the odd nod towards the reviled Estuary English!)
Swifty,
I did like the picture but I liked the sentiment and subject of the blog more.
Cheers....Al
I read this a few days ago with no time to comment but it did start a train of thought. [Some of my trains get derailed rather early on!] I was thinking firstly, that if our round of "regular" commentors should meet in person, the various regional accents might get in the way of deciphering the words and thoughts. Fortunately for all of us, the typewritten words are bland and easily comprehended.
Beyond that, and perhaps more deserving of consideration is the characteristic I believe you are describing. Isn't it a bit like knowing someone so well that we occasionally groan, "Oh, I just KNEW you would say that!"
There is a certain anonimity to blogging that may free us to "say" things we would hesitate to broach in person. I'm not talking about bad-mannered rants, but about the concept that our readers are not influenced or distracted by our style of dress, the color of our hair or the fact that we didn't have our teeth straightened when we were young!
There are times, as BB states, when we remain silent for awhile or we post innocuous remarks and cute photos, because things going on in our lives are too personal to put out there.
All that, just to agree that we do, indeed, learn a good deal about how others think, even their political and religious views, how they spend their time, their joys, fears, hopes, aggravations.
Although we wouldn't likely enjoy everything about our blogging friends' lifestyle, I think those of us who have gotten acquainted through shared journals would feel that we were meeting real friends should we be plopped down for a bit in each others' back yard. [And for the record, I doubt I would consider you "pug ugly"--you're just too interesting and articulate to put anyone off!]
Hullo MM,
Thank you. Kindly said.
And even if the printed word is accent neutral we speak uniquely in our own ways.
and I wouldn't class your writing as bland either.
kind regards.....Al.
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