Would you communicate without speech?

[Gaseous Anomaly]

I can tell someone to F#%*off much better verbally than written!

 

[scotpens]

I'd give up speaking for a specified length of time if it meant winning a lot of money, like the guy in that Twilight Zone episode “The Silence.”

WOW...I just watched that on YouTube last night. I thought it was going to be stupid, because I can't stand most black and white stuff--but that was AWESOME. I may have to check out some more Twilight Zone episodes.

You “can't stand most black and white stuff”? That's a joke, right? You mean crap like Duck Soup, Casablanca, Citizen Kane, High Noon, Dr. Strangelove, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, not to mention most of the first twenty years of television?

BTW, “The Silence” is actually an atypical Twilight Zone ep, in that the story has no fantasy, science-fiction or supernatural elements.

I can tell someone to F#%*off much better verbally than written!

I assume you mean “orally.”

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

I'd give up speaking for a specified length of time if it meant winning a lot of money, like the guy in that Twilight Zone episode “The Silence.”

WOW...I just watched that on YouTube last night. I thought it was going to be stupid, because I can't stand most black and white stuff--but that was AWESOME. I may have to check out some more Twilight Zone episodes.

You “can't stand most black and white stuff”? That's a joke, right? You mean crap like Duck Soup, Casablanca, Citizen Kane, High Noon, Dr. Strangelove, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, not to mention most of the first twenty years of television?

Dr. Strangelove I liked. As for Casablanca I tried it and it wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything that made any particular great impression on me. Frankly a lot of stuff even AFTER things started being made in color doesn't appeal, and I even have a hard time with TOS; it's just too camp for me.

BTW, “The Silence” is actually an atypical Twilight Zone ep, in that the story has no fantasy, science-fiction or supernatural elements.

That much I knew...but it was still VERY effective and thought-provoking. The crazy thing is I actually can't decide who was more at fault for that whole nasty incident.

 

[JonathonWally]

Not a chance, verbal communication is my gift.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Back in 1978, I had jaw surgery and couldn't speak for six weeks; I found it quite relaxing. I do like talking to people face to face, I suppose, and wouldn't give it up, but the written word is definitely my strength. Especially since I'm the absent-minded Professor type, and I can easily go off on long digressions and lose my train of thought, or have a train of thought triggered by something the other person says and entirely miss the rest of their statement.

I've also thought it would be interesting and fun to learn American Sign Language. Especially how to curse in it.

I thought everybody knew how to do that.

 

[Showdown]

Totally weird question time...

Assuming society were more accommodating of the choice and nobody would discriminate or comment on it in cases where there is not a medically established reason for it, would you choose to communicate by writing instead of speech in the majority of cases? Why or why not?

No, because its easier to talk.

 

[Marie1]

Dr. Strangelove

How horrible it would be for someone to miss that b/c it's B/W!!

 

[iguana_tonante]

I wouldn't. People would miss my soothing voice and sexy accent.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

I'd give up speaking for a specified length of time if it meant winning a lot of money, like the guy in that Twilight Zone episode “The Silence.”

Was that the one where the guy accepts the bet for a million dollars that he can't talk for a year? At the end of the year he finds out the guy he made the bet with lost all of his money, but he still doesn't say anything and it turns out he had severed his vocal cords.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Yeah, that's the episode. And he actually had the nerves cut, so it wasn't "just" tissue damage that could be repaired later. Talk about a mindfrak! I'm not sure who was MORE in the wrong on that one...

 

[scotpens]

^^ One of Rod Serling's trademark ironic twist endings. The story has similarities to Anton Chekhov's “The Bet” and Guy de Maupassant's “The Necklace.”