Well Pixie, I am most probably solidly casted in the stereotype guy that states the obvious. I also sometimes tell that joke that everybody knows, or make the same comment I made a hundred times before.
SORRY
Actually, we love to watch sport and drink a beer. We love it if our girlfriend come and sit on our lap or hold on to one of our arms. Its a kind of mental hibernation from carrying the problems of the world around our shoulders. And the only way to communicate during this phase of mental stagnation is opening our mouth to state our first observation, somehow connected to the person whose attention we would like to have.
Just ignore it and say, hallo sweetie, I am off to have a spa with the girls...
Monday, 7 May 2012
Stating The Obvious, Is It Lame or Just Human?
Being Malaysian, we are famously known for stating the obvious. But it is not a specific behaviour for only certain countries, stating the obvious is in fact a norm among humans.
Some say that it is just a way to start conversation, small talk or to break the silence when you don't have anything else to say.
Some say it is just the way we see things and being human we think we are greater than the others, including the other human beings as well. And us stating the obvious is just a way of showing we are helping others see it our way.
Some relate it to a biological, evolutionary basis or theory of evolution: That human are social animals - we have the need to let others know or aware of our presence, mood, health etc which were given by occasional sounds, which in our case is "small talk". Lets take cats, they meow for every single thing even when there is no need to meow at all. It is just the need to let others be aware that they are there. Existed! It is the need among mammals to be recognized. Yes we are indeed (as we all believe) rational animals but this will include not only being rational but also being animal.
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I was drawn to think about Marvin, the character in The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy, a novel by Douglas Adams and made into a movie. Marvin is a robot, or an android, that is created with GPP - Genuine People Personalities (personality prototype of a human. And as a human prototype he is obviously depressed a lot of times, stating and repeating the obvious! There's one part of the book that I like would to quote:
One of the things that Ford Prefect had always found hardest to understand about human beings was their habit of continually stating and repeating the obvious, as in "It's a nice day!", or "You're very tall", or "Oh dear you seem to have fallen down a thirty-foot well, are you alright?", At first Ford had formed a theory to account for this strange behaviour. If human beings don't keep exercising their lips, he thought, their mouths probably seize up. After a few months' consideration and observation he abandoned this theory in favour of a new one. If they don't keep on exercising their lips, he thought, their brains start working. After a while he abandoned this one as well as being obstructively cynical and decided he quite liked human beings after all, but he always remained desperately worried about the terrible number of things they didn't know about.
Anyway, the moral is, for me stating the obvious is not lame at all. Yes of course I need to exercise my lips, and I was scared that if I stop talking my brain will actually freeze. But, it's a way of me showing that I am here, you can talk to me now. My starting of conversation might be lame but I am here, that is all that matters. So how about you? Do you agree or do you not agree?
Here is the video created by Malaysians on our way of stating the obvious. Enjoy!
Pixie.
Some say that it is just a way to start conversation, small talk or to break the silence when you don't have anything else to say.
Some say it is just the way we see things and being human we think we are greater than the others, including the other human beings as well. And us stating the obvious is just a way of showing we are helping others see it our way.
Some relate it to a biological, evolutionary basis or theory of evolution: That human are social animals - we have the need to let others know or aware of our presence, mood, health etc which were given by occasional sounds, which in our case is "small talk". Lets take cats, they meow for every single thing even when there is no need to meow at all. It is just the need to let others be aware that they are there. Existed! It is the need among mammals to be recognized. Yes we are indeed (as we all believe) rational animals but this will include not only being rational but also being animal.
Marvin; stating the obvious
I was drawn to think about Marvin, the character in The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy, a novel by Douglas Adams and made into a movie. Marvin is a robot, or an android, that is created with GPP - Genuine People Personalities (personality prototype of a human. And as a human prototype he is obviously depressed a lot of times, stating and repeating the obvious! There's one part of the book that I like would to quote:
One of the things that Ford Prefect had always found hardest to understand about human beings was their habit of continually stating and repeating the obvious, as in "It's a nice day!", or "You're very tall", or "Oh dear you seem to have fallen down a thirty-foot well, are you alright?", At first Ford had formed a theory to account for this strange behaviour. If human beings don't keep exercising their lips, he thought, their mouths probably seize up. After a few months' consideration and observation he abandoned this theory in favour of a new one. If they don't keep on exercising their lips, he thought, their brains start working. After a while he abandoned this one as well as being obstructively cynical and decided he quite liked human beings after all, but he always remained desperately worried about the terrible number of things they didn't know about.
Anyway, the moral is, for me stating the obvious is not lame at all. Yes of course I need to exercise my lips, and I was scared that if I stop talking my brain will actually freeze. But, it's a way of me showing that I am here, you can talk to me now. My starting of conversation might be lame but I am here, that is all that matters. So how about you? Do you agree or do you not agree?
Here is the video created by Malaysians on our way of stating the obvious. Enjoy!
Pixie.
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