Word spaghetti

I first noticed it about 15 years ago, when we first moved to Hamilton. Someone talking and talking without ever finishing. I said to Judith, “That guy, he can’t stop talking.” I thought it was just that particular guy.

Then I noticed it more and more. I thought it was a Hamilton phenomenon. “Hey Jude, you notice how in Hamilton, people just go on and on? You can’t get a word in.”

Now I realize that it has nothing to do with Hamilton. It’s everywhere. People can’t finish their sentences. In fact, what sentences? They don’t talk in sentences, just this unending stream of word spaghetti.

And there’s a reverse phenomenon. Just when you’re trying to say something coherent, nicely phrased in sentences, they interrupt. In a loud voice. I guess it’s because they assume that if they don’t get in there, you’ll just go on and on like everyone else does.

I have this theory about the American election. Yes, another theory. But I think this is a good one. About why the Democrats lost.

It’s because they spoke in sentences. Carefully crafted sentences. Taking turns talking.

Trump didn’t talk in sentences. He talked in spaghetti. Fun, exciting, tangled, looping spaghetti. Going on and on, for hours.

This made a lot of people comfortable. You could say that he talked their language.

Or more precisely: he talked their syntax.