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Education
Fortuitous use of words
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English idioms have prescribed many uses for the mouth: "You can take the words out of someone's mouth", and "you can also put words into his mouth"!
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EVER SINCE I heard the phrase "tongue in cheek", I have been attempting the exercise of pursuing my tongue into my cheek. But it doesn't seem to work. People must have created some of the idioms in English with the agility of acrobats. I have always laughed on one side of my mouth; and so when I try to laugh on the other side, as my dictionary suggests I can, I never succeed. And to put ones foot in ones mouth is equally an impossible feat, though my six-month-old granddaughter seems to be able to do it.
Mouth itself is given an impressive definition in my dictionary: it is the external orifice in head, with cavity behind it containing apparatus of biting and mastication and vocal organs. That is indeed a mouthful. I never realised I presented such a formidable apparatus to people who looked at me.
A mouthpiece is not a piece of ones mouth any more than a tailpiece is a piece of one's tail. But there is something called a synecdoche, which is defined as a part for the whole: so we may say that someone has six mouths to feed, meaning he has broken family planning code two times over.
The mouth has been in the news recently because of the foot-and-mouth disease that is causing havoc in England and other European countries. More than half a million cows have been put to sleep in England alone. Formerly it was known as hoof-and-mouth disease. But foot-and-mouth has little to do with foot-in-mouth. The mouth represents the two major area of human activity — the physical and the intellectual, mastication and articulation. The act of eating is the primary physical activity that puts man on par with animals; and the act of speaking sets him apart.
Language is man's most important, most sophisticated invention. And on the other side, man has refined eating into a fine art. Eating is not only a means of satisfying a basic need; eating together can be a great social event. In fact, the word companion means one who eats bread with you. English idiom has prescribed many uses for the mouth: your son may be born with a silver spoon in his mouth, which means he will be affluent for life. At the other end, you may find that you have to live a hand-to-mouth existence since there was no silver spoon around. Some of your experiences may leave a bad taste in your mouth, and truth can be unpalatable.
You can take the words out of someone's mouth, and you can also put words into his mouth. Politicians find foot-in-the-mouth an extremely useful phrase. In 1988, Ann Richards, Texas Governor, targeted presidential candidate, George Bush Sr., with the words, " Poor George, he can't help it. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth." She could have repeated the same words today, when his son, President George W. Bush, by a fortuitous use of the word `crusade' for the war on terrorism, caused a furore in many parts of the world. Prince Philip of England had a word for it — dontopedology, which he defined as "the science of opening your mouth and putting your foot in it." The Prince admitted he had been practising it for years. We all have, sometimes unwittingly, sometimes advisedly.
The horse's mouth is the ultimate source of privileged information. You can listen to what comes from the horse's mouth, but you are not supposed to look into it, especially if it is a gift horse.
The modern equivalent would be looking for a price tag on a gift packet you receive. There was one instance, however, in which looking into someone's mouth was recommended.
Aristotle, surprisingly, maintained that women have fewer teeth than men. He was twice married, and as Bertrand Russell remarked, it never occurred to him to verify his statement by asking Mrs.Aristotle, either Pythias or Herpyllis, to keep her mouth open while he counted.
But in the last resort, the best advise you get is to keep your mouth shut. Cervantes said, " a closed mouth catches no flies." "Long before that, the Bible reminded us that it is " not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles."
Every language has a proverb or a saying that warns against shooting one's mouth off. Albert Einstein put it in mathematical terms — if A equals success, then the formula is A equals X plus Y plus Z. X is work, Y is play and Z is keep your mouth shut. Sound advice, indeed, which prompts me to save and exit.
V.R. NARAYANASWAMI
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