How to Talk about Actions (Part II-Session 19)

How to Talk about Actions

Part II-Session 19​

Open Ended

What verb means to:

1. belittle?

2. be purposely confusing?

3. tickle someone’s fancy?

4. flatter fulsomely?

5. prohibit some food or activity?

Write at least One Verb...

What verb means to:​

• belittle?

• be purposely confusing?

• tickle someone’s fancy?

• flatter fulsomely?

• prohibit some food or activity?

• ​make unnecessary?

• work against?

• pread slander?

• give implicit forgiveness for a misdeed?

• change hostility to friendliness?​

disparage/equivocate/titillate/adulate/proscribe/obviate/

militate/malign/condone/placate

1. Playing it down​

​

Ready to go back thirty or more years? Consider some post-World War II American political history:

Harry Truman couldn’t win the 1948 election. The pollsters said so, the Republicans heartily agreed, even the Democrats, some in high places, believed it. Mr. Truman himself was perhaps the only voter in the country who was not entirely convinced.

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Came the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November—well, if you were one of those who stayed up  most of the night listening to the returns, and then kept your ear to the radio most of the next day, you recall how you reacted to the unique Truman triumph.

​

It was no mean accomplishment, thought many people. Pure accident, said others. If one out of twelve voters in a few key states had changed his ballot, Harry could have gone back to selling ties, one Republican apologist pointed out. It wasn’t anything Truman did, said another; it was what Dewey didn’t do.​

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​No credit to Truman, said a third; it was the farmers—or labor—or the Republicans who hadn’t bothered to vote—or the ingenious miscounting of ballots. No credit to Truman, insisted a fourth; it was Wallace’s candidacy—it was the Democrats—it was Republican overconfidence—it was sunspots—itwas the Communists—it was the civil service workers who didn’t want to lose their cushy jobs—it was really Roosevelt who won the election.

Anyway Harry didn’t accomplish a thing—he was just a victim of good fortune.

What were the apologists for Dewey’s failure doing?

They were disparaging Truman’s achievement.

2. playing it safe​

Willing to look at some more history of the late 1940s?

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Of course, Dewey did campaign, in his own way, for the presidency. As the Republican aspirant, he had to take a stand on the controversial Taft-Hartley Act.

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Was he for it? He was for that part of it which was good. Naturally, he was against any of the provisions which were bad. Was he for it? The answer was yes—and also no. Take whichever answer you wanted most to hear.

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What was Dewey doing?

He was equivocating.​

​3. enjoying the little things

​Have you ever gone through a book that was so good you kept hugging yourself mentally as you read? Have you ever seen a play or motion picture that was so charming that you felt sheer delight as you watched? Or perhaps you have had a portion of pumpkin-chiffon pie, light and airy and mildly flavored, and with a flaky, delicious crust, that was the last word in gustatory enjoyment?

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Now notice the examples I have used. I have not spoken of books that grip you emotionally, of plays and movies that keep you on the edge of your seat in suspense, or of food that satisfies a ravenous hunger. These would offer quite a different, perhaps more lasting and memorable, type of enjoyment. I have detailed, rather, mental or physical stimuli that excite enjoyably but not too sharply—a delightful novel, a charming play, a delicious dessert.

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How do such things affect you?

They titillate you.

​4. playing it way up

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You know how the teenagers of an earlier generation adored, idolized and overwhelmed Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, the Beatles?

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And of course you know how certain people fall all over visiting celebrities—best-selling authors, much publicized artists, or famous entertainers. They show them ingratiating, almost servile attention, worship and flatter them fulsomely.¹

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How do we say it in a single word?

They adulate such celebrities.

English | Vocabulary from Word Power Made Easy

How to Talk about Actions​

5. accentuating the negative

What does the doctor say to you if you have low blood sugar? “No candy, no pastries, no chocolate marshmallow cookies, no ice cream!”, your morale dropping lower and lower as each favorite goody is placed on the forbidden list.

What, in one word, is the doctor doing?

​

The doctor is proscribing harmful items in your diet.

6. accentuating the affirmative

You believe in, and practice, honest self-disclosure; you feel comfortable with yourself and therefore with everyone else; and you have a passionate interest in experiencing, in living, in relating to people.

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Need you have any fears about making friends? Obviously not.

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Your characteristics and temperament obviate such fears.

You are warm, friendly, enthusiastic, outgoing, easy to please;

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​you are quick to show appreciation, yet accept, without judgment or criticism, the human weaknesses of others.

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​You are a fascinating talker, an even better listener.

7. playing it wrong

Theodor Reik, in his penetrating book on psychoanalysis Listening with the Third Ear, talks about neurotic people who unconsciously wish to fail. In business interviews they say exactly the wrong words, they do exactly the wrong things, they seem intent (as, unconsciously, they actually are) on insuring failure in every possible way, though consciously they are doing their best to court success.

​What effect does such a neurotic tendency have?

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It militates against success.

8. playing it dirty

“Harry?” He’s a closet alcoholic. Maud? She’s sleeping around—and her stupid husband doesn’t suspect a thing. Bill? He’s embezzling from his own company. Paul? He’s a child molester. Sally? You don’t know that she’s a notorious husband-beater?”

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What is this character doing?

He’s maligning everyone.

Do you think it’s all right to cheat on your income taxes? At least just a little? It’s wrong, of course, but doesn’t everybody do it?

How do you feel about marital infidelity? Are you inclined to overlook the occasional philandering of the male partner, since, after all, to invent a cliché, men are essentially polygamous by nature?

If your answers are in the affirmative, how are you reacting to such legal or ethical transgressions?

You condone them.

9. giving the benefit of any doubt

​10. changing hostility

Unwittingly you have done something that has aroused anger and resentment in your best friend. You had no desire to hurt him, yet he makes it obvious that he feels pretty bitter about the whole situation. (Perhaps you failed to invite him to a gathering he wanted to come to; or you neglected to consult him before making a decision on a matter in which he felt he should have some say.) His friendship is valuable to you and you wish to restore yourself in his good graces. What do you do?

​

You try to placate him.

Can you work with the words?

KEY:  1–h, 2–f, 3–j, 4–a, 5–c, 6–i, 7–b, 8–g, 9–d, 10–e

1. disparage	a. flatter lavishly
2. equivocate	b. work against
3. titillate	c. prohibit
4. adulate	d. forgive

5. proscribe	e. change hostility to friendliness
6. obviate	f. purposely talk in such a way as to be vague and misleading
7. militate	g. slander
8. malign	h. play down
9. condone	i. make unnecessary
10. placate	j. tickle; stimulate pleasurably

Multiple Choice

Do you normally disparage something you admire?

• Yes

• NO

Multiple Choice

Do you equivocate if you think it unwise to take a definite stand?

• Yes

• NO

Multiple Choice

Does a worker’s inefficiency often militate against his keeping his job?

• Yes

• No

Multiple Choice

Do people enjoy being maligned?

• Yes

• NO

Multiple Choice

Do we generally condone the faults of those we love?

• Yes

• No

Multiple Choice

Can you sometimes placate a person by apologizing?

• Yes

• No

Multiple Choice

Do pleasant things titillate you?

• Yes

• No

Multiple Choice

Do emotionally mature people need constant

adulation?

• Yes

• No

Multiple Choice

Is sugar proscribed for diabetics?

• Yes

• NO

Multiple Choice

Does a substantial fortune obviate financial fears?

• Yes

• No