by Alan TownendBut back to the word 'talk' It crops up all over the place. In fact a
common question on one of the forums at http://www.english-test.net (I
am referring in particular to the one called English Teacher
Explanations) is: What's the difference between speaking and
talking? I usually reply that speaking is saying words and talking is
having a conversation and so if you're a good student you don't talk
while the teacher is speaking.
Then 'talk' has another personality, too. They say money talks - that
if you want to influence and impress, money will do that for you. You
can also do some straight talking which means that you speak your
mind and don't worry what other people say. That happens on our
forums as well especially in the one called: What do you want to talk
about? The thing we don't really like and I'm sure it doesn't happen
very often is when people adopt a superior attitude and talk down to
others. Then sometimes it gets technical and there are those who
only talk about their work to one another and the rest of us are
excluded. You know the kind of thing when linguists start throwing
phonetic symbols at each other - well if you do that, you are talking
shop. We mustn't forget that talking can also be undertaken by those
who in our opinion are just spouting nonsense although they are
convinced it makes pure sense. This is expressed with two colourful
idioms: talking through your hat and talking through the back of
your head. The latter I should think is very painful. At the beginning
I mentioned the person who couldn't stop talking in an interview.
Those who have that complaint are said to be talking nineteen to the
dozen or talking their heads off or even (and don't ask me where this
comes from) talking the hind leg off a donkey. Finally in memory of
all those birds that had to be slaughtered at a farm in the East of
England because of the dreaded avian flu, I have to mention talk
turkey, which is when you talk openly and honestly in your business
deals.
Now all I have to say is: 'Nice talking to you'. Unlike many of my
fellow countrymen and women, as you can see, I don't mind
indulging in a bit of small talk.