Just plain talking… does that make you feel as the pit of your stomach does during the rapid descent from a distance that would make the clouds cringe…? 😉
Learning about “Courtly” and “Plain” speaking concepts – the former being the indirect approach to conversation where individuals play with words such as in the Shakespearian era and even sometimes I found in Civil War correspondence was playful and entertaining. The latter can be attributed to the now where the attention span of individuals is often said to be less than 30 seconds where conversations are more direct and to the point. Those concepts made me think of certain aspects throughout moments in my life where without consciously thinking about it I witnessed those types of conversations.
It occurred to me that there were several times in conversations where very intelligent individuals expressed topics in a very “courtly” manner. For instance, I was at a dinner with several friends who by chance were all alums from “ivy league” schools. While I was impressed with how the words and the art in which they decided to express their thoughts and ideas – I constantly had to battle my mind to digest what exactly their aim was in the conversation. Should conversations be that “_ _ _ _” difficult? I look back and wonder why did we just dance for five minutes regarding a question that could have been asked, processed and answered within half the time it took to present it. I guess it could be a show of power regarding their education status or maybe this type of conversation was instilled upon them. Then again, maybe I just was not up to par! 😉
And yet on the other side of the spectrum – I have lost all faith in the art of communication with certain people who do not hold the slightest ability to hold a meaningful conversation. Is the ability to hold a conversation (meaning through back and forth dialogue) and the way in which we speak our thoughts two separate issues or tiers of a bigger issue? I don’t know… the “courtly” concept keeps me entertained and is interesting but it can dissuade some people from entering the conversation or even worse — the inevitable fear of “getting lost” or “keeping up” may be an issue. Conversely, the “plain” concept if not careful could be far too bland and definitely will and has (I’m a victim) lead to awkward silences.
I guess awkward silences are good — if you are a reporter. I remember the famous reporter Mike Wallace saying something to the tune of how he would ask questions and then when the interviewees would answer he would then give around 4-5 seconds of silence. He found that often times they would divulge more information due to the awkward silence that ensued. That’s pretty “plain” and direct to me.
Either way — There is room for both in moderation. I even think it would be great if people could flow back and forth between “courtly” and “plain” conversations. Some would call this “wit”…
Thoughts?
That’s interesting. The “courtly” style survives in poetry and some kind of writing, but it’s based around really reveling in the ambiguity of language and deliberately playing with meaning. Lawyers and politicians might try to hide their meaning or dodge a straight answer, and some people try to puff themselves up by using unusual or pretentious words, but the courtly style is more about ornamentation and surprise than it is about simple meaning. Othello says “The tyrant custom, most grave senators, Hath made the flinty and steel couch of war, My thrice-driven bed of down.” When what he means is “as a soldier I’m used to a tough life.” Flint and steel are hard an tough and they are struck together to make a fire or fire a gun. A couch is the last thing you think of when you think of war war is not like a puffed up feather bed either: Shakespeare is deliberately messing with the meaning of things in an ornate way. In his day, people LOVED this, today we find it sort of annoying most of the time