Don’t Argy-Bargy, Simply Do It!

THE SERIOUS WORTH OF SILLY

“Serious things cannot be understood without
humorous things
Nor opposites without opposites.”
Plato

Silly things can help us to achieve important things. Today will be a silly day.

Echo-words are so much fun to say. They feel good on our tongue and often make us laugh -- at least when we first hear them. I just learned the term argy-bargy, and I laughed when I heard it. It means an argument or to argue; it’s both a noun and a verb. Its cousin is argle-bargle with the same definition.

Argy came from argument and then it picked up an echo along the way and became argy-bargy. Can you imagine the possible results when you begin to use the term? “Let’s not argy-bargy.” That alone might defuse any tense situation. Incorporate it into your vocabulary and enjoy the pattern interrupt whenever you use it.

Hurly-burly is another echo-word. Hurly comes from the root meaning to howl. Sometime in history burly joined hurly because it rhymed. We seem to like echo words -- hodge-podge, wishy-washy, what else?

A BUNCH OF GIBBERISH

Make an echo for your name. Make several. Say aloud: “My name is Julie-bulie, or Stephanie-yephanie, or Richard-slichard [use your own name, of course].” You are messing around and messing around is good. Messing around loosens up the paths in your brain and the habits of your tongue. Messing around supports your creativity.

“I like nonsense. It breaks up the brain cells.” Dr. Seuss

Now for more messing around, more creativity push-ups. Talk gibberish. Say only nonsense syllables. If you have trouble starting, take each of the vowels sounds and use variations of them. O, zo, po, kwo, ifmo, noto, tooro, ogtolopo.

You might want to find a friend and have a whole conversation in gibberish. You will be surprised at the level of communication. (We often use gibberish in training programs to how much of communication is nonverbal.) And you will surprised at how much you will laugh. Remember all those gifts that laughter gives you?

Spend several minutes speaking gibberish and see what happens. You will feel your mind freeing up. You will feel released. You may not be able to stop.

Silly is one of the most powerful creativity inducers you have. Hey, reader-kreader, get silly-pilly now.

And Today . . .

I have a friend who is a comic and character actor, and a master of gibberish. A fun kind of friend to have. He is also a jazz musician. He introduced me to the amazing activity of scatting.

Jazz musicians improvise with their instruments. Some jazz singers improvise in a certain way with their instruments, their vocal cords. They scat. Scatting is like gibberish set to music. They sing nonsense syllables. When you hear scatting, you hear a kind of freedom and often some playfulness.

Yep, that’s your “assignment” for today -- scatting. Get out your favorite music and scat to it. Get your whole body involved. Scat at the top of your lungs and below a whisper. Let the neighbors hear (or co-workers, if appropriate). Then scat so softly you can barely hear it. Mess around, scat around, play around.

When you are not near music, scat to the songs in your head.

Scat no less than fifteen minutes today, preferably much more. Scatter your scatting throughout the day. You will enjoy that freedom after you jump in and do it. Break the silly barrier and try it. What have you got to lose?

You will dissolve some ruts in your brain and some furrows in your brow. And scatting can be very aerobic when you bring your body along.

What a LULU (Loosen Up, Lighten Up) day this is going to be.
_____________________________________
Publishing Guidelines:
You have permission to publish this article as long as the resource box is included. Please let me know of its publication by sending either a website link or a courtesy copy of your publication to mailto:Stephanie@allen-nichols.com
Thank you very much.