A motivated GOOD MORNING!!! to you all! Yup, got up, did some road work, hit the kettle bells (rather bell), and now, hitting the old blog for you to enjoy a bit of Ed-vise!
What Would You Do Wednesday Ed-vise today. Cause I love WEDNESDAYS!!!
I’ve started diving into Verbal Judo by George J. Thompson, PhD. Notice the PhD after the name? He actually was a legit PhD…in English Literature. Still can call him a doctor if you want…he earned it.
Anyway…
During the read he brought up a situation that I recall going on during my playground days: Dozens.
“Dozens” is the title of a game that, in a sense, hardened kids to insults. And I do mean hardened.
The game was based on insulting your opponent. Your opponent was usually your best friend for whatever reason (weird I know). It eventually devolved into “Yo Mama” jokes. The loser was the person who couldn’t come up with a response to the last “Yo Mama” or who was verbally locked up to say “I know you are but what am I.” You saved a lot of face on the playground it we ended up silenced versus the “I know you are” statement. Better crowd pleaser because you could bow your head and shuffle out while the winner enjoyed the glory of the crowd.
In the end, we were all friends. Very close friends at that. After the recess “verbal battle” we would go to each other’s house and play Atari or whatever. Ended up playing sports and such together. Great friends we were.
Am I a better person for engaging in these games at a young age? I would say I am.
First, I have a pretty quick whit about me. Meaning I come up with comical and deflective responses to offensive statements pretty quickly.
Second, I am pretty thick skinned. It takes a bit to rattle my cage with an insult.
I continued the pursuit of “thick skin” by going to the US military. They train in how to verbally abuse and insult a human being. They take pride in being able to come up with the most unique words to string together to imply that a person’s parents were not married when the individual was born. A black belt in verbally manipulating someone into a self deprecating statement such as “I’m a fucking moron, sir.” Quite literally a science I would say.
So, What Would You Do if you were insulted?
Do you know when you have been insulted? How does it make you feel? Do you get all pissed off inside? Lash out? Freeze up? What is your response mechanism to defend yourself against a perceived slight? Once that response is triggered, you have created an opening for the opponent to keep at you until you are broken down.
Trade some verbal barbs with a friend. Let them say “Yo Mama” just to see how it makes you feel. You might learn something about yourself AND you might even find something to laugh at
I’m just saying
That’s it for today. Take care of yourselves. Check in on each other and remember Yo mama so broke, ducks throw bread at her! HAHAHAHAHAAHA
Peace
Ed-vise 