I am happy to accept that the pen is mightier than the sword and long may that be so. But as a Drama teacher and parent I am probably more convinced that the spoken word can often be even more powerful. Yes, ok, playwrights do have to write and then those words are performed but in Chateau Lawrence words, in their spoken form, often create powerful reactions.
Selective deafness is as well-known a phenomena and often results in an added ailment of instant, short-termed dumbness. Phrases such as “Time to go and get showered” appear to be outside of children’s auditory range and induce an almost zen-like concentration on the task being undertaken by the child at the time, be that staring at the television, doing homework or fiddling with some non-descript object. Other phrases that cause similar reactions are “Who is coming shopping with me?” “That stuff needs taking upstairs” and “Whose pile of rubbish is this?”
Recently Lexi and I have noticed that several words or phrases seem to have anesthetic qualities to them. A few days ago I asked one of the Lawrences what homework they had (I have long ago stopped asking “Do you have any homework?” as that question often causes the grunt reflex to manifest). This homework question almost instantaneously caused the off-spring in question to be struck down with exhaustion meaning that the only thing they were capable of doing with any degree of success was lying on the sofa and yawning.
Probably the most surprising language stimulus-response / phrase-reaction is to the phrase “washing up time.” This often causes all three Lawrences to break out into a form of frenzied busyness. Moments after hearing the question, which, curiously, none of them appear deaf to, Edwin has been known to walk from place to place looking for things that have suddenly taken on the greatest of importance. Rupert on the other hand seems immediately to need to attend to urgent matters in areas of the house other than the kitchen and utters the phrase “I am just / I just need to….” and before anyone can become wise to what he needs to attend to he has vanished. Trixie on the other hand has a more biological reaction. The washing up statement brings about an immediate toilet urge in her, the toilet in question being as far away from the kitchen as possible. So immediate is this response I would suggest that doctors try using it with severely constipated patients.
It is equally curious how there are very different reactions to questions such as “Who would like to try a piece of Daddy’s birthday toffee?”