Idioms
I've come to realize that I use idioms as something of a verbal crutch. Instead of saying, "um" or "well," when my mind draws a blank, or I'm otherwise at a loss for words, I'll blurt out something to try to get the point across. And I didn't even realize it until recently.
I don't think it's a bad thing, however. I'm an attorney, in Texas, who wears boots and seersucker suits (sometimes at the same time, suck on that). And I grew up in the sticks. So my brain is pretty much hard-wired to fall back on a idiom, or colloquialism, whenever I'm trying to convey an idea to a third party that he or she may not understand.
Leigh always gives me a ton of crap for it. She did not grow up in the sticks, she went to a fancy private boarding school, went to Cal for undergrad, etc. Her vocabulary is extensive and well learned. And she uses it correctly.
"Different strokes for different folks," I tell her. She is not amused.
Case in point, yesterday afternoon I was at a mediation for one of my clients. It lasted about 4 hours. In that time, I probably used about a dozen different idioms. "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." "He hasn't paid one red cent." "Get down to brass tacks." "Gut feeling." "You can hang you hat on it." "The ball is in their court." Etc. And those are just the ones I remember. When the mediation was over, the mediator commented on the frequency with which i went back to the well and used idioms to explain something to my client.
My penchant for using these isn't just confined to meditations. Just look at my last post, where I accidentally quoted Shakespeare in a closing argument, and then followed it up with an idiom about passing a smell test, when the Judge asked me to clarify a point about a legal technicality that my whole case boiled down to. But we won, so I guess it got the point across.
Like I said, I don't think it's a bad thing. I've sat in on a lot of trials and hearings, and the attorneys I liked did the same thing. Knowing that I can sit there and trade barbs with some of the old guard attorneys in town certainly doesn't hurt my confidence, and in turn helps my clients. And heck, maybe it will be something I'm known for with other attorneys and judges (too early to tell at this point), which is not a bad thing - it's better than being known for not knowing what they hell you're doing or not having a firm grasp on the law (which is how I remember some other attorneys I've sat in on or gone up against).
I'm not sure what the point of this post is. I guess because I got called to the carpet on it yesterday afternoon, it's fresh in my mind.
I don't think it's a bad thing, however. I'm an attorney, in Texas, who wears boots and seersucker suits (sometimes at the same time, suck on that). And I grew up in the sticks. So my brain is pretty much hard-wired to fall back on a idiom, or colloquialism, whenever I'm trying to convey an idea to a third party that he or she may not understand.
Leigh always gives me a ton of crap for it. She did not grow up in the sticks, she went to a fancy private boarding school, went to Cal for undergrad, etc. Her vocabulary is extensive and well learned. And she uses it correctly.
"Different strokes for different folks," I tell her. She is not amused.
Case in point, yesterday afternoon I was at a mediation for one of my clients. It lasted about 4 hours. In that time, I probably used about a dozen different idioms. "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." "He hasn't paid one red cent." "Get down to brass tacks." "Gut feeling." "You can hang you hat on it." "The ball is in their court." Etc. And those are just the ones I remember. When the mediation was over, the mediator commented on the frequency with which i went back to the well and used idioms to explain something to my client.
My penchant for using these isn't just confined to meditations. Just look at my last post, where I accidentally quoted Shakespeare in a closing argument, and then followed it up with an idiom about passing a smell test, when the Judge asked me to clarify a point about a legal technicality that my whole case boiled down to. But we won, so I guess it got the point across.
Like I said, I don't think it's a bad thing. I've sat in on a lot of trials and hearings, and the attorneys I liked did the same thing. Knowing that I can sit there and trade barbs with some of the old guard attorneys in town certainly doesn't hurt my confidence, and in turn helps my clients. And heck, maybe it will be something I'm known for with other attorneys and judges (too early to tell at this point), which is not a bad thing - it's better than being known for not knowing what they hell you're doing or not having a firm grasp on the law (which is how I remember some other attorneys I've sat in on or gone up against).
I'm not sure what the point of this post is. I guess because I got called to the carpet on it yesterday afternoon, it's fresh in my mind.