TRAVAILS OF TOOTHLESS NESS. PART TWO.
I had written the blog series Travails of Toothlessness between August and November 2007, when I was 58 and had lost all my teeth.
Even though I published the blog, and as Priti says, no one reads, a statement of fact, I was not very happy with what I had written
This is a redone and revised edition of the 2007 blog.
This is Part Two.
Some rambling thoughts on the matter of teeth.
I have been thinking of writing part two for quite a few days now, but somehow could not get my teeth into it to really start, pun intended, as I am a toothless man!
In English movies, I have noticed that in some countries, to summon a taxi, you just whistle and the passing taxi will come to pick you up.
Now, when you become toothless, you have not only lost your teeth but also the ability to summon taxies. You see, as I found out first-hand, teeth are very essential to whistle.
There was a time when I was proud of my whistling. I could whistle with one finger of one hand, with two fingers of one hand. Than two fingers, one finger of each hand. Also, four fingers, two fingers of each hand. I could also make sounds like a diesel engine of about a horsepower or like calls of a copper smith barbet by making a hollow mace sort of contraption and placing my thumbs forming this mace to my lips. Oh my word! I could whistle.
Now, no teeth, no whistle.
Of course, after getting married and becoming a father and a responsible officer, I very rarely whistled; the loss of power to be able to whistle occasionally makes me sad.
Some people are good at public speaking and making speeches! Some not so good, and some break out in sweat at the very idea of standing on stage and giving an oration to a large gathering. Such people are normally bad speakers.
Invariably, a good speaker will always have a clear, good voice. To a large extent, their good voice contributes to their being a good speaker. Along with a clear, good voice, if they also have good tone, diction, modulation and good control over tone, be able to convey emotions not only by words but by embodying them in the voice as well. With such a voice, Public speaking becomes so much more effective.
When all these, good voice, good tone, diction, modulation, delivery style, get together, the person becomes a very good orator, and the listeners are held spellbound by the very quality of their sound.
Of course, you can not talk bunkum and hope to keep the listeners interested or spellbound only because you have a good voice. Good subject and text of the speech are, of course, important!
It is God's gift.
As time passes and the person gets older, one of the things that happens is they start losing teeth.
Only old age may not be wholly responsible for such a poor state of affairs, as they may be the wages of poor oral hygiene and trying to keep away from the toothbrush and the toothpaste, in younger days !!!!
When the front teeth, top and bottom, are lost, the first casualty is looks and the second is speech.
The presence of front teeth is very very essential for pronunciation and articulating certain sounds, specifically associated with words having " S " or SH " in them.
While speaking, when words with this sound are spoken, they do not come out correct sounding and escaping air from the gaps in the front teeth imparts a whistling sort of noise rather than the correct sound.
This whistling sound while speaking is very embarrassing.
Just imagine giving a public speech with a whistling or hissing sound coming out at a critical moment of the speech, or that keeps happening every now and then. You have not only lost your front teeth but also your ranking as a good public speaker.
This is nothing; in fact, more embarrassment is in store, which is very sudden and takes you totally by surprise.
It is the embarrassment of the listener getting some fine saliva spray through the gap left by missing front teeth in his face when he gets a bit too close, while you earnestly want to emphasise a very serious point.
Your friends and listeners will start, if not altogether to avoid you, will at least start maintaining a safe distance from you.
You have not only lost front teeth but are also likely to lose friends!
Even though I published the blog, and as Priti says, no one reads, a statement of fact, I was not very happy with what I had written
This is a redone and revised edition of the 2007 blog.
This is Part Two.
Some rambling thoughts on the matter of teeth.
I have been thinking of writing part two for quite a few days now, but somehow could not get my teeth into it to really start, pun intended, as I am a toothless man!
In English movies, I have noticed that in some countries, to summon a taxi, you just whistle and the passing taxi will come to pick you up.
Now, when you become toothless, you have not only lost your teeth but also the ability to summon taxies. You see, as I found out first-hand, teeth are very essential to whistle.
There was a time when I was proud of my whistling. I could whistle with one finger of one hand, with two fingers of one hand. Than two fingers, one finger of each hand. Also, four fingers, two fingers of each hand. I could also make sounds like a diesel engine of about a horsepower or like calls of a copper smith barbet by making a hollow mace sort of contraption and placing my thumbs forming this mace to my lips. Oh my word! I could whistle.
Now, no teeth, no whistle.
Of course, after getting married and becoming a father and a responsible officer, I very rarely whistled; the loss of power to be able to whistle occasionally makes me sad.
Some people are good at public speaking and making speeches! Some not so good, and some break out in sweat at the very idea of standing on stage and giving an oration to a large gathering. Such people are normally bad speakers.
Invariably, a good speaker will always have a clear, good voice. To a large extent, their good voice contributes to their being a good speaker. Along with a clear, good voice, if they also have good tone, diction, modulation and good control over tone, be able to convey emotions not only by words but by embodying them in the voice as well. With such a voice, Public speaking becomes so much more effective.
When all these, good voice, good tone, diction, modulation, delivery style, get together, the person becomes a very good orator, and the listeners are held spellbound by the very quality of their sound.
Of course, you can not talk bunkum and hope to keep the listeners interested or spellbound only because you have a good voice. Good subject and text of the speech are, of course, important!
It is God's gift.
As time passes and the person gets older, one of the things that happens is they start losing teeth.
Only old age may not be wholly responsible for such a poor state of affairs, as they may be the wages of poor oral hygiene and trying to keep away from the toothbrush and the toothpaste, in younger days !!!!
When the front teeth, top and bottom, are lost, the first casualty is looks and the second is speech.
The presence of front teeth is very very essential for pronunciation and articulating certain sounds, specifically associated with words having " S " or SH " in them.
While speaking, when words with this sound are spoken, they do not come out correct sounding and escaping air from the gaps in the front teeth imparts a whistling sort of noise rather than the correct sound.
This whistling sound while speaking is very embarrassing.
Just imagine giving a public speech with a whistling or hissing sound coming out at a critical moment of the speech, or that keeps happening every now and then. You have not only lost your front teeth but also your ranking as a good public speaker.
This is nothing; in fact, more embarrassment is in store, which is very sudden and takes you totally by surprise.
It is the embarrassment of the listener getting some fine saliva spray through the gap left by missing front teeth in his face when he gets a bit too close, while you earnestly want to emphasise a very serious point.
Your friends and listeners will start, if not altogether to avoid you, will at least start maintaining a safe distance from you.
You have not only lost front teeth but are also likely to lose friends!
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