All you Need is...

I had an epiphany on Christmas day. It made me laugh till I was breathless, which is the way of all great life moments, and that's why I think it's worth sharing. ;-)

It started with frustration and irritation. My dad was trying to reply to a text message on his new mobile phone. The message was from a friend in South Africa and for some unknown reason the reply feature would not work. Hubby has the same phone, but he never texts, so he wasn't able to instantly offer advice.

Eventually, hubby decided to try sending a text message to our home phone, to see if it was perhaps actually sending, but not saying it was sending.  (don't you love electronic gadgets?)

 He was right. Although neither his phone nor dad's stated the message was sent, our home phone rang instantly. Hubby picked up, confirmed it was the message service and hung up. The good news was that dad's message had sent... probably about seven times, since he'd kept trying again when it gave no sign of having sent! Which was the bad news for his friend in Africa who must have wondered why dad wished him Merry Christmas over and over... and over.

And that wasn't the only phone message sending over and over. Our home phone rang again and I was the one to answer. It was a recorded voice from BT telling me we still hadn't listened to our sent message. Because while hubby picked up he never bothered to listen to his own sent text.

I figured I better listen to the thing, or that recorded voice "She" would be back nagging and nagging. I pressed #1, as requested and she told me (in her weird stilted recording voice)...

"Your text message is... uh?"

Uh?

I was so puzzled I asked for a repeat, went back to press #1 again and she said (again)...

"Your text message is... UH?"

I put down the phone and went to find my husband. I asked him what exactly he'd written. He was surprised I'd heard anything. All he'd sent in his test text was one letter of the alphabet.He'd sent an R.

"R?" I asked.

"R!" he replied.

 I started to giggle. Because depending on the emotional emphasis to your voice that one letter takes on an entire different meaning! Try it for yourself.

Say it as I did, and it sounds like a puzzled question, just like the phone recording voice!

 

Say it firmly and it sounds like a confirmation.

Say it in a seductive voice and it suddenly sounds flirtatious.



say it sweetly and you'll sound like an angel.

Best still - say it when you're angry. Give it depth and RoaR from your gut.

Better than a swear word and it won't offend anyone. ;-)

There's an R for every mood and human moment. All my years of talking, writing, and trying to communicate with others and all I needed was an R. It's so simple! All I can say is...