♫ BASICALLY:
HOW NOT TO SAY WHAT YOU MEAN♫
(The Lyrics)
INDUCTION:
♫Words
would be very useful
for school and love and work,
if only they would mean
what they mean.
♫I
have started (no, not started
but do) to wonder
(no, not wonder but know)—
how we turn words inside out
like (over)sensitive laundry.
CHORUS:
♫Basically
means “generally,”
Little bit means “a lot.”
How Are You? means
“I wanna tell you
‘bout me
so spare me your
TMI.”
I.
BASICALLY
♫Basically means I
don’t know
what to say next.
Once I’ve said “basically”
well, sorta, who can argue against‘t?
♫I
had a five-minute presentation
on Ophelia to do,
but Ophelia I didn’t feel ya
so basically I said basically
87 times:
♫“Basically,
Ophelia was basically this girl.
Basically, Ophelia was ditched.
Basically, Ophelia was basically a character
in William Shakespeare’s basically Hamlet.”
CHORUS
♫Basically
means “generally,”
Little bit means “a lot.”
How Are You? means
“I wanna tell you
‘bout me
so spare me your
TMI.”
II.
LITTLE BIT
Verse:
♫Say
a little bit when you’re afraid
to say that it’s “a lot”
or when your family, lover, money
is no one else’s biz.
♫The
text buzzes in “Did he ____ you?”
or “Did you ______him?”
“Would you like to ______ with me?”
Or “Did you __________ with _______?”
♫Thumb
back “I’m a LB mad, LB broke,
LB bad, LB hurt,
LB in love with
someone else
and LB—pregnant.”
CHORUS
♫Basically
means “generally,”
Little bit means “a lot.”
How Are You? means
“I wanna tell you
‘bout me
so spare me your
TMI.”
III.
YOU, YOU, YOU
♫My very fave is the
use
of second person point of view,
when you really
means I—
all that you
and your is you
being your own invisible friend.
♫When
you’re afraid to own up to
your own experience
or commit to what you say,
it’s more polite to say you, you, you
than me, myself,
mine, and I.
CHORUS
♫Basically
means “generally,”
Little bit means “a lot.”
How Are You? means
“I wanna tell you
‘bout me
so spare me your
TMI.”
DEDUCTION:
♫Pacifiers
and qualifiers
and clearers of the throat,
here’s more glossary of what
to say instead of what you mean:
♫Why not? means “Thank
you, no”
and “I wish you hadn’t asked.”
Sure means “I
doubt it”
and It’s Okay
means “it’s not.”
♫Let’s
come clean and stop
prevaricating—
turn right side out not in.
Words aren’t (over)sensitive laundry.
♫And
double negatives
aren’t always positive—
“no never nothing not.”
You say “double positives are never negative,”
and I say yeah,
yeah.
CHORUS
♫Basically
means “generally,”
Little bit means “a lot.”
How Are You? means
“I wanna tell you
‘bout me
so spare me your
TMI.”
***
WHAT WORDS DO YOU USE TO DODGE SAYING WHAT YOU MEAN?
Name your dissembling, demurring
words, calibrate how often you say them in a day, practice eliminating
them, leave a comment.
©
2014 Susanna Rich
