EN phone home

I've been thinking a lot about how I communicate recently - a product of my job and doing a PhD about BSL and also moving to Aberdeen and talking to nearly everyone I know through the Internet or over the phone.

I think I've got written communication pretty much sorted. By no means do I have the skills of a writer or a journalist (if you want that click here ) but I've got the basic skills of expressing myself pretty much in place (if you don't agree then....I don't care). I think I have mastered Internet intonation, Caps for when I really REALLY want to emphasise my point, Italics for when something just isn't quite right, and of course full stops. For comedy timing.

But when it comes to talking on the phone.......a different story altogether. It turns out that I use facial expressions. A LOT. So much so that when they're not available my communicative ability goes steeply downhill. I think it was one of the reason I took to BSL quite well - Non-Manual Features and facial expressions were certainly my most consistently high scoring areas in my Level 2 BSL class - but when it is taken away from me I suffer. Depending on your morals a good (or bad) side effect of this is that, on the phone, I am a truly excellent liar. My voice contains no hint of what I really mean. Don't get me wrong, my face is contorted into agonising expressions but my voice?.......Calm as a Prozac pill in a Xanex box.

So my question: Is it possible to change the way you communicate? Should you? If I put my concentration into making my voice more expressive will I lose my facial superiority (which I prefer)?

As a note, whilst I've been writing this I've made my way through 3/4 of a bottle of wine so I do apologise for the deteriorating quality.

Half-mast dwarves wearing sunglasses. Or something like that.

So, I have come across a slight problem in my blogging; I made this blog to keep you all informed about my adventures in Aberdeen however I also said that I didn't want to talk too much about work for fear of saying something stupid and it becoming my ex-job. Turns out I don't have that much to talk about outside of work. Whoops.

So, things. Interesting things. Observations I have made.....This being the first time I've had a regular walk to work I have made several new friends. I say friends, they're people I walk past everyday. But it's a start. There's Half-Mast Henrietta, a woman who is always wearing trousers that are about 4 inches too short. Not the same trousers I might add, it appears that her entire collection of leg wear is somewhat stunted. I'm getting more and more tempted to stop her and ask if she knows that they aren't actually meant to be like that. Or maybe there's a material shortage in Aberdeen that I don't know about.
There's also Sunglasses Sue (I'm nothing if not creative) who wears the biggest white sunglasses everyday. At 8am. In Aberdeen. Again I am tortured by indecicsion: Is she the poor victim of a fashion trend she didn't quite get right, or is she a raging alcholic who has to cover up her bloodshot baggy eyes? One of life's little mysteries I suppose.

What I will say about work is that it is going well and I am really enjoying it. My PhD is slowly taking shape, my grand ideas to rewrite linguistics are being whittled down into something, well, realistic. My homework for this evening is to find something to take into the office to make it look a little less like a cell and more like a place I want to spend the next 4 years of my life. This is the best I've come up with so far. Yes. It's a candle in the shape of a Dwarf. Homely.

Bad Science

I've just started reading Bad Science by Ben Goldacre and I must say I'm very impressed. There's just one quote I wanted to share on my other favourite subject to rant about, the MMR - Autism debacle.

"Surveys also say that doctors are the most trusted of all public figures, and journalists are the least trusted, but that doesn't seem to be the lesson from the media's MMR hoax".

I don't have much else to say that isn't summed up in that sentence except yes! Fucking YES! Anyway, the other thing that has come up in the book which I wanted to talk about was the write up of methodology and results in academic papers. I am now of the opinion that Bad Science should be on the reading list for all undergraduate courses that use the scientific method in their research. The way the write up of the method and results section was described to me (or maybe the way I interpreted it) was that there needed to be enough information in order for someone to replicate your study. Things like specifying how you randomised your participants, in the interest of transparency never occured to me. Similarly with the results section, which I have always found a bit of a drag to write - don't get me wrong I am perfectly adept at running stats and doing the write up (and I'm not just saying that to cover my ass in case any one I work with reads this) - but having to go through the exacts statistical tests and choosing what data to present has always seemed...............blah. Until now. Goldacre has given me a new perspective on those all important sections, so the next time I am writing up a report I shall just keep repeating to myself "This is for the good of science, for the good of science...."

Why do we care?

I said in my previous blog that it can be difficult to comment on the US election due to, you know, not being American and all but I found this article in the Guardian and I think it sums it up really well just why the world is allowed to have its say this time.

This pansy-ass limey Brit won't butt out — the US election is our business

In other news, it's the Biden - Palin debate tonight, let's see her try to explain the last week.....