Archives for September 2018

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone when they preface what they want to say with “Let me be perfectly honest’? Or, “To be totally honest with you…”? or “Let’s be honest.”?  Most likely, you have. So have I……..

This past week, I was listening to a radio program where the guest used these phrases a lot. In fact, “ad nauseum!”  His syntax was so heavily peppered with these that it made the interview difficult to listen to………..I started keeping count of the phrases, and lost focus of the subject matter completely! So I ask, why would someone need to use these phrases? And, why so often?

The first thought I had about this was that he must not be honest or ‘totally’ honest with anything else he has to say. Otherwise, there would be no reason to keep prefacing his speaking. The second thought I had was, oh my, do I do that when I talk with people? Egad………….

So, let’s talk about the number 4…

Originally, I wanted to write about the words four and forty. I have never been able to understand why the number 4 has a ‘u’ in it and that the number ‘40’ does not. What’s the deal! In my opinion, the English language is complicated enough without confusing us with stuff like this!

With high hopes of getting an answer regarding 4 and 40, I got on my internet (ironically at 4 in the morning) and ‘googled’ the number 4. About an hour and a half later, I found myself amazed with all of the information about the number 4. It certainly holds an important place in our universe, and I was surprised with the amount of information available.