Saturday, April 05, 2014

Stuck in the........With.....7 Words

A recent Plinky Prompt proposed:
Khalil Gibran once said that people will never understand one another unless language is reduced to seven words. What would your seven words be?
My 7 words:
Give, Take, Please, Thanks, Love, Peace, Compassion.


Some years ago I used a Plinky Prompt question in a post too:
"Who would you not mind being stuck in an elevator with ?"

At the time many Plinky Prompt responders had answered, "my husband", I didn't recall anyone replying "my wife", but optimistically thought maybe most people attracted to Plinky Prompts would be female, but that's a guess. The next most popular answer was "MacGyver". Good choice, for those of us who remember that inventive genius whose pockets were always filled with paperclips, gum and bits of wire and string....he'd get us out in two shakes of the proverbial.

Giving that same question an astrological spin:
Who, astrologically, wouldn't I mind being stuck in an elevator with?

Someone with plenty of Gemini in their natal chart would be good, at least it wouldn't be boring as we waited for rescue. A Sagittarian individual would keep the optimism levels high. I'd hope not to have too much Pluto/Scorpio input from companions who can be too paranoid by far, the dark side has no place in that kind of situation! Ideally, if it had to be just one other person, and I was in a hurry to get out, keep an appointment, or whatever, I'd prefer my companion to have lots of Aries energy (to support the bit I have myself). Together we'd lead the Great Escape! As it happens the husband has Sun in Aries, so that could work out well, I doubt he carries string and paper clips in his pockets though. We'd be very happy to have MacGyver along for an interrupted elevator ride.

15 comments:

mike said...

Probably too risky to base stuck-ness on astrology...it could go any number of unforeseen directions, depending on the maturity and experiences of the other person. Sounds masochistic, but I wouldn't mind being stuck with Obama...a chance to have him as a captive audience and hear my concerns...likewise, a chance to find-out if lizard-aliens are truly running the government...LOL.

Sonny G said...


I can name one person but if I had to be stuck I'd want it to be a talkative elderly person who'd be willing to tell me as many stories about their life as possible until we were rescued or figured out a way to get ourselves out of their their..

I'm very resourceful myself.:)
I have 3 years of survival training. Surely I could get out of an elevator lol..

Sonny G said...

um, that would be CAN'T name one person:)

LB said...

I'd choose an experienced, on-duty, elevator repair-person, preferably someone with a well-aspected Scorpio Sun (conjunct my Jupiter in the 3rd) who also had a sense of humor.:)

Twilight said...

mike, Sonny, LB ~ Thanks for your contributions.

How about those 7 words though?

mike (again) said...

My seven:

yes, no, maybe, thanks, sorry, me, you

(love can always be conveyed without words)

Twilight said...

mike (again) ~ Hmm. Yes, but.. so can me, you, yes, no (pointing nodding shaking head)?

This is more complicated than I originally thought - my 7 words are more like 7 concepts.

If taken very literally - WORDS, not gestures or concepts, that everyone in the world would need to understand one another...I don't know.

Gestures/attitudes/actions can convey most things, maybe that's what Khalil Gibran was getting at.
Less words, more action/inaction?

In which case I don't have a clue on the seven words.

Words?

mike (again) said...

It seems that humans and some animals have built-in, pre-adolescent comprehensions, probably based more on facial features and intonation cues. And, yes, concepts like peace and compassion would require additional words to understand the complexity of meaning(s). I'd say that even the simpler conceptualizations of yes & no can be difficult to teach to an active two year old and requires constant reinforcement in later years (moral and ethical applications)...usually involves rewards and punishment. And do fully mature adults truly comprehend yes & no?...LOL. The human mind seems to require complexity that builds upon itself, such as language, mathematics, music, etc...we don't tend to find minimal concepts and efforts nearly as fascinating and captivating as those with more elaborate and abstract constructs.


“The buffalo from Buffalo who are buffaloed by buffalo from Buffalo, buffalo other buffalo from Buffalo.”
http://listverse.com/2012/12/22/10-quirky-but-cool-uses-of-english/

LB said...

Twilight ~ I thought about the 7 word thing all day, but nothing I came up with ever really felt right - unless the 7 words formed a sentence or statement that somehow managed to convey how humans are meant to live and treat one another. Kind of like a condensed owner's manual!

Twilight said...

mike (again) ~ All true. Agreed.

LB ~ Me neither! Good idea about a sentence though.

mike & LB ~ This morning I typed the first few words of Gibran's quote into Google's search box and it brought up several slinks to blogs where this topic had been discussed - last year.

Links to 3 of them I looked at:

http://jitterygt.wordpress.com/2013/10/28/who-made-the-most-sense-khalil-gibran-or-george-carlin/

http://myvoicerk.wordpress.com/2013/10/28/my-seven-words/

http://robssurfreport.com/2013/10/28/how-to-order-coffee-with-the-unnecessary-complexity-of-human-language/


Trouble is, we can't be sure what Gibran was getting at. Was it the literal side of "understanding" language he was trying to encapsulate in 7 words, or was it the deeper meaning of understanding: motives and reasons, beliefs of others ?
Anyway he produced food for thought if nothing else.
:-)

mike (again) said...

Check this out, Twilight:

Xilitla (city) las Pozas (gardens)

Photos:
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=las+pozas&ei=UTF-8&fr=moz35

Explanation:
http://xilitla.org/

Twilight said...

mike ~ Thanks for the links - interesting character, and great photographs! I'll make him subject of a future Arty Farty Friday - not this week but maybe week after.
Thanks for the idea. Born 16 Aug. Leo's drama!

I liked this quote "Edward James took Las Pozas from the forest, and now the forest is taking it back". Widen that and one could say:

Humans took Earth from the forest and now Earth is taking it back.
:-/

Anonymous said...

The buffaloes reminded me of the old GQ puzzle, thus: 'Edit this sentence to make sense: "Smith where Jones had had had had had had had had had had been approved by the critics."'
I'm interested in the fact Gibran said 7 words, which does not allow for binary either/or-ness inherent in the so-called bicameral mind. I'm still thinking about that.
I'd hate to be stuck in an elevator - ugh. First thought: Oscar Wilde, endlessly fascinating companion, and tall enough to give me a boost through the ceiling tile to attempt escape, tho I'm sure he'd make some hilariously faux self-deprecating remark upon my exit!

Twilight said...

Sabina~ Oh1 hmmm - I hadn't come across the Smith and Jones conundrum before - and despite trying to make sense of it, still to look up the answer. Good one!

Gibran's 7 words form a conundrum too. I guess there's no right answer to it, but it makes one think. :-)

Oscar Wilde - yes, the time of captivity wouldn't be boring !

Twilight said...

Dang! First sentence should have read:

Oh! Hmmm - I hadn't come across the Smith and Jones conundrum before - and despite trying to make sense of it, I still had to look up the answer.

Need more coffee!