reading clearout - june 2021

Hi,

A few thoughts on books I will not cover in a full review.

The Illustrated Book of Sayings by Ella Frances Sanders (December 2019)

Longtime readers are surely groaning at the latest reference to Sanders, whose Lost In Translation has been the subject of several (hundred) thousand words on TOA. The Illustrated Book of Sayings is a related project, demonstrating the full range of language with its collection of various expressions from around the world. There are certain expressions that I wished were commonplace in English, and perhaps I am guilty as charged for borrowing the Polish saying "not my circus, not my monkeys" in the few weeks after completing this reading. The rewarding aspect of this work is the way it invited me to look at stale expressions, buzzwords, and clichés not as prompts for eye-rolling, but as opportunities for invention. There was, after all, someone in Tibet who first pointed out the phenomenon of giving green answers to blue questions. Why not follow the example and try to add my own colorful contribution to the world of expression? In the meantime, here is my review after my 2018 reading, which lists out a handful of the selections in this book.

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (September 2019)

I think it was in a John O'Donohue book where I read that grief is the place where no one can find you, a place for which there is no map. In some ways this book is Didion's effort to chart the territory, but The Year of Magical Thinking is far from a universal guide. It is like Didion herself notes - grief is different for everyone, which means readers are unlikely to find themselves reflected back to them from these pages. The connection is subtler, like deja vu, seeing through Didion's eyes what I think has flashed past my own - the expression on a face weeks after a loss, the unstable way the grieving express themselves, the confusion after those unforgettable moments of forgetfulness. There is much more, I'm sure, but what matters will differ by reader; what I noted is here.

The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier (January 2021)

I have to open by noting that I thought this was an effective book. The core of The Coaching Habit is a series of seven questions designed to open up productive workplace discussions, and for the most part I thought the framework could be helpful for any reader. If you are interested, I suppose you can check out my book notes. The challenge for me with this work is an unstated assumption - the tools are intended for a certain type of relationship. I often discover this reality within these types of books. The nature of the conversations these managerial books promise to their readers is the kind that happens naturally among colleagues with a strong working relationship. I'm undecided if the best remedy for a stiff, formal, or distant relationship is to absorb the techniques described in works such as The Coaching Habit. Wouldn't it be better to build the relationship instead?

leftover #1.1 – the illustrated book of sayings (song of the month bracket)

In my first leftovers post, I mentioned how I’ve always studied competition formats. What I could have added is that I’ve also tried to apply my knowledge about these structures whenever possible. These applications took place in all manners of ways – organizing backyard competitions in the summer, arranging tournaments for drinking games at parties, or tweaking the standard playoff format for my fantasy football league.

I’ve also spent quite a bit of time arranging similar things that existed strictly in my own head. These are a little harder to explain in print – let’s just say I had a pretty active imagination as a kid. (Of course, readers who struggled through my Lost In Translation bracket will have a good idea about what I mean, so maybe this isn’t such a hard concept to explain…)

Anyway, my most recent such venture has been with music. For a few months earlier in the decade, I got in the habit of making monthly playlists. These served as unofficial records of what music I liked the most in a given month. At some point, I stopped making these playlists. One day, I impulsively deleted the playlists.

This is a decision I (sort of) regret. It occurred to me a couple of years ago that I would have enjoyed looking over these lists every once in a while. After wallowing in my own despair for a few days, I decided to start tracking again. Instead of just making a list, however, this time I took a different approach and made brackets at the end of each month. I then went through the songs in pairs, eliminating one at a time, until I was left with a definite ‘song of the month’.

I like this approach better. It gives me a sense of what I liked most during a given month while also making the process a little more interesting than just writing down song titles. It has been a couple years of this now and I have a fairly extensive archive of what I was listening to in a given month.

But surely, you are wondering, what does all this mean for my weekend? Well, reader, the simple answer is that it means nothing. However, every once in a while I probably will mention a song or two in a newsletter, and now we'll all know that I didn't just decide to include it on a sudden whim.

On a broader level, I think my (sort of) regret about deleting my old playlists points to how it might not be such a bad idea to take a few minutes every once in a while to record what's on my mind at the moment. I'm not talking exactly about a journal or diary here since those methods feel a little more involved - I'm thinking more like a simple list, the sort we can lookup on Wikipedia for more official awards shows like the Grammys or Oscars. When I really think about why I waste so much time doing things like the Lost In Translation bracket or the TOA Awards, I think this paragraph is the explanation - it might not matter much today what I thought about the books I read last year, but I bet in twenty years I'll probably be happy to have these posts for reference.

leftovers - the illustrated book of sayings (competition formats)

As I mentioned in the main post, The Illustrated Book of Sayings is a loosely related follow up to Lost In Translation. Longtime readers will recall how my fascination with Lost In Translation led to the infamous TOA ‘Word Bracket’, a mock tournament where I pitted my favorite sixteen words from the book in head-to-head comparisons until I determined my favorite word.

A hidden but important reason why I put the ‘tournament’ together is my long-running fascination with competition formats (yes, you read that correctly). I’ve always enjoyed reading up about the different structures used in various leagues, tournaments, and competitions around the world. Over time, I’ve come to the conclusion that the competition format has a far greater influence over the eventual popularity of the competition than the nature of the competition itself.

There is no better example of this than the NCAA Men’s Division I basketball tournament. I assume every reader is familiar with this tournament nicknamed ‘March Madness’ and those who follow sports even just casually will know the tournament for its wild finishes, crazy upsets, and Cinderella runs by underdog teams. But when I think about the reasons for the tournament’s popularity, it’s hard to get past the single-elimination bracket format. There are many reasons why this tournament structure tends to create the most popularity. Above all the factors, it infuses every game with the possibility of elimination – in other words, it means every game counts. I think this is why the bracket format reigns supreme over all the other options – there is nothing worse for a competition than an uncompetitive contest.

reading review - the illustrated book of sayings

The Illustrated Book of Sayings by Ella Frances Sanders (August 2018)

As I mentioned in my post earlier this week, below are some of my favorite expressions from Ella Frances Sanders’s newest book. Are there any expressions I liked so much that I might incorporate them into my vocabulary? I figured I should try at least one, so below are the expressions I considered along with reasons for why I've chosen to (or not) incorporate it into my vocabulary.

NO - Not a good fit with my conversation style…

'Oh! Pregnant horse!' – Filipino – used to express surprise.

'In a river full of piranhas, caiman swim on their backs' – Brazilian Portuguese – take extra precautions in an unsafe environment.

These likable expressions are not very similar to each other but I’ve lumped them together because I don’t think my conversation style fits the way these expressions are used. Specifically, when I notice something surprising I don’t shout out in surprise and when I’m moved to dispense wisdom I rarely resort to reciting proverbs that are 85% applicable to the situation at hand.

These expressions also have some minor technical problems that would make it hard for me to regularly incorporate them in my speech. First, I suspect that if I saw a pregnant horse around town, she would clip-clop by without my realizing she was expecting. How would I know? Do pregnant horses have huge bellies? Or perhaps they wear stretchy saddles? I guess if I ever visit the Philippines, I’ll try to find out.

As for the Brazilian expression, I think it would eventually bother me that the caiman swimming technique referenced in the saying has never actually been observed in wildlife. A proverb-like substance should have some truth in it, right? I’m also unsure if swimming scales-down would protect this crocodile species from the piranhas – what if the piranhas were really determined, or if the caiman’s underbelly sagged a little as it swam?

NO - The future will make these expressions incomprehensible...

'The one who fetches the water is the one who is likely to break the pot' – Ga (Ghana) – suggests that those who try are the most likely to make mistakes.

'Drop by drop, a whole lake becomes' – Bulgarian – great things happen slowly.

Like the Brazilian thought above, these expressions contain a proverb-like element that makes it unlikely I’ll use them. As a general rule, I tend not to speak in proverbs.

I also worry that the concepts these expressions reference might be under the threat of extinction in the remainder of my lifetime. It’s possible that climate change might cause certain water sources to dry up, for instance, and I wonder how this would change how the Bulgarians use their expression. I suppose they could make a similar point by saying ‘drop by drop, a whole lake evaporates’. This would admittedly be a more negative emphasis in comparison to the original but the main idea that some things take a very long time would remain in place.

The Ghanaian saying might come under threat from improved infrastructure. Surely, anyone with easy access to clean water would stop fetching water in giant, brittle pots. I guess this practice could end even more quickly if they starting using more durable pots. In both of these possibilities, the knowing wisdom of the expression would be lost – maybe they could alter the expression to “there’s no use crying over spilled water”.

NO - The concept is good, but I'll need to think of my own words…

'To feed a donkey sponge cake' – Portuguese – the senselessness of giving something wonderful to someone who cannot appreciate it.

'Not my circus, not my monkeys' – Polish – used to give up in a discussion.

I liked both of these animal-centric expressions on first glance and could see myself using these on an infrequent basis in 2019. But these expressions also share a certain mad-lib quality that I think will ultimately prevent them from becoming permanent fixtures in my vocabulary.

What do I mean by ‘mad-lib quality’? Well, to me it seems like the noun choices built into the expressions are a little arbitrary and could work just as well with different options. Why not feed a moose a soufflé, for example? And if it isn’t my deli, surely it isn’t my pastrami, either. My guess is that I’m likely to use these expressions as frameworks for my own pointless comparisons before I start confusing those around me with references to sponge cakes and circuses.

NO - What happens in Spain, stays in Japan…

'You are my orange half' – Spanish – an informal way to describe someone as a soul mate. It possibly originates from how no two oranges are alike and therefore each half can only have one other perfect match.

'To wear a cat on your head' – Japanese – to feign innocence or trick others with sweetness when you are actually up to no good.

These are pretty delightful little phrases but I fear that they would make very little sense outside their respective cultures. I’m all for trying new things, no doubt about it, but unless my next job is as The Vice-President, referring to someone as ‘my orange half’ feels more likely to come off as an insult than as a term of endearment (and even then... never mind).

As for wearing a cat, I worry that this expression suggests some kind of obsession with animal furs. Why possibly provoke an animal lover just for the reward of using some weird expression? I think our language has more than enough ways to say ‘pulling a fast one’ without invoking unneeded associations to Cruella de Ville.

The big winner…

'To give a green answer to a blue question' – Tibetan – to give an answer completely unrelated to the question asked.

This one felt like a winner as soon as I saw it. Longtime readers will surely agree – if TOA does anything, it consistently provides green answers to blue questions. I’m looking forward to more of the same in 2019.

i read the illustrated book of sayings so you don't have to

Morning all,

The Illustrated Book of Sayings is Ella Frances Sanders’s follow up to Lost In Translation, a book that searched every corner of the planet for fascinating words with no literal English translation. The review I’ll post later this week is very simple – I’ve highlighted a few expressions I liked, grouped them into some basic categories, and picked out a winner at the end.

Before I start, however, I want to highlight a comment from the book’s introduction. Sanders suggests that words have the power to plant themselves in people and grow into something new. As I reflected on this comment, I thought back to her previous book and realized how the idea applied to the way some of the non-English words I learned from it changed my life. The change could be as simple as observing instances of the Japanese word komorebi (the sunlight filtering through a leafy tree). The book also changed the way I notice emotions that may once have passed by unacknowledged (like saudade, the Portuguese word for nostalgia about something that never existed).

I’m looking forward to returning to Lost In Translation soon and taking note of any other words that, in hindsight, were seeds for what have grown into the leafy trees through which I filter the sunlight of the world. I’m expecting a similar result from some of the expressions I learned from Sanders’s newest book. Sometime in the future, reader, I’ll be back with more details on exactly how this aspect of my growth played out.

Thanks for reading.

Tim