Words Words Words

Epiphany: I finally figured it out!

Figured what out… (you’re thinking)

Why I go on and on about stuff...why my posts are SO long.

Aside from the fact that I’m excessive about everything I do…and my husband is either in school or at work from 7:30 a.m. til midnight M-Th, leaving me few people to talk to…the obvious answer is…I have more LEFTOVER words then most people.

Here is what I found: Most women speak at a rate of 250 words per minute; most men speak at 125, and, according to Gary Smalley, author of "Making Love Last Forever," in the course of a day, women on average speak 25,000 words, compared to a man's average 12,000. While I’ve never had the speed of my speaking officially tested it HAS been a source of contention for teachers, particularly speech and drama teachers, as well as family members trying to hear me. I would imagine when given the opportunity I can speak 400-500 words per minute and can squeeze out 40,000-50,000 words, in oral or written format.

I consider it a HUGE advantage…my sister, mom and I can get together and have a 5-10 minute conversation and have covered about 100 topics or more and no one can understand a word we’re saying! Add to that the fact that my sister is a Sign-Language Interpreter, so we can speak with our hands (to some extent) as well. It’s like the old Fed-Ex commercials with that man that talks so fast it all just runs together, same with us ladies! Sure it’s a bit frustrating sometimes with others who sit with eyes glazed as they listen to the nonstop chitchat from any of us, until we realize we are DOING IT and s l o w I t d o w n s o m e…

What? (you’re thinking)...

We’ve all heard or read about how many “WORDS” a person has in a day and once they reach that max’ they are worn out…well I have about twice or maybe three times as many as anyone else I know and in order to ‘use them up’ I have to write and write and write and write.

Case in point (taken from some reputable online source, lol):

Excited to prove to his wife that he had been right all along when he accused her of talking too much, he showed her the study results. It read "Men use about 15,000 words per day, but women use 30,000".

The wife thought for a while, then finally she said to her husband "It's because we have to repeat everything we say."

The husband said "What?"

The truth of the matter is…between the “middle child syndrome” (stop laughing) and lack of interaction with other intelligent life forms on a daily basis, I am dripping with words. I am soaked and dripping with all these words and thoughts and ideas and feelings. I could go to a therapist, I suppose…but what’s the point, it would be far cheaper to pay someone MUCH less to let me talk to them! I don’t need answers…just an ear and an occasional head nod…heck I might be able to reincarnate Chatty Cathy…well…no...she talks too, so that won’t work! So we’re back to square one…I write and write and write and write in a futile attempt to use these words that plague me day in and day out!

I was able to use words more in school, particularly in drama courses. I usually did monologues (as if that's any surprise). It also shouldn't be any surprise that I was awarded “Best Thespian” in high school? And no…I’m not saying what YEAR! How rude!

Enough words for today…for now anyway…