Our Tongue\u2019s Get Us Into Trouble<\/b><\/p>\n
The classic movie, A Christmas Story, is a nostalgic look at growing up in Gary, Indiana, through the eyes of a boy named Ralphy. One scene depicts a school recess in the middle of winter. Two boys surrounded by their classmates argue whether a person\u2019s tongue will stick to a metal pole in below-freezing weather.<\/p>\n
Eventually one of the boys succumbs to the infamous \u201ctriple-dog dare.\u201d Hesitantly he sticks his tongue out and touches it to the school flagpole.<\/p>\n
Sure enough, it gets stuck. The recess bell rings. Everyone runs into the school building, everyone except the hapless victim. When the teacher finally looks out the window, she sees the boy writhing in pain, his tongue frozen to the flagpole.<\/p>\n
While few of us have been in that predicament, we all know what it\u2019s like to have our tongues get us in trouble. When we suffer the pain that eventually recoils upon everyone who speaks boastful words, lying words, bitter and cruel words, hypocritical or doubting words, we learn the truth of the proverb, \u201cHe who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity\u201d (Prov. 21:23).<\/p>\n
M. Castillo, Whitewater, Kansas, quoted in Leadership, p. 49<\/p>\n
Half Head of Lettuce<\/b><\/p>\n
A man working in the produce department was asked by a lady if she could buy half a head of lettuce. He replied, \u201cHalf a head? Are you serious? God grows these in whole heads and that\u2019s how we sell them!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou mean,\u201d she persisted, \u201cthat after all the years I\u2019ve shopped here, you won\u2019t sell me half-a-head of lettuce?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLook,\u201d he said, \u201cIf you like I\u2019ll ask the manager.\u201d She indicated that would be appreciated, so the young man marched to the front of the store. \u201cYou won\u2019t believe this, but there\u2019s a lame-braided idiot of a lady back there who wants to know if she can buy half-a-head of lettuce.\u201d<\/p>\n
He noticed the manager gesturing, and turned around to see the lady standing behind him, obviously having followed him to the front of the store. \u201cAnd this nice lady was wondering if she could buy the other half\u201d he concluded. Later in the day the manager cornered the young man and said, \u201cThat was the finest example of thinking on your feet I\u2019ve ever seen! Where did you learn that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up in Grand Rapids, and if you know anything about Grand Rapids, you know that it\u2019s known for its great hockey teams and its ugly women.\u201d<\/p>\n
The manager\u2019s face flushed, and he interrupted, \u201cMy wife is from Grand Rapids!\u201d \u201cAnd which hockey team did she play for?\u201d<\/p>\n
Source Unknown<\/p>\n
Epitaph<\/b><\/p>\n
On a windswept hill in an English country churchyard stands a drab, gray slate tombstone. The quaint stone bears an epitaph not easily seen unless you stoop over and look closely. The faint etchings read:<\/p>\n
Beneath this stone, a lump of clay, lies Arabella Young, Who on the twenty-fourth of May, began to hold her tongue.<\/p>\n
Source Unknown<\/p>\n
Quote<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 Washington Irving said, \u201cA sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Willian Norris, the American journalist who specialized in simple rhythms that packed a wallop once wrote: If your lips would keep from slips, Five things observe with care: To whom you speak; of whom you speak; And how, and when, and where.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Publius, a Greek sage observed, \u201cI have often regretted my speech, never my silence.\u201d – Swindoll, Growing Strong<\/p>\n
Tongue Twisters<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 Ezio Pinza\u2019s (singer at the Metropolitan Opera) favorite was, \u201cThree gray geese in the green grass grazing; gray were the geese, and green was the grazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Actor Laurence Olivier often warms up with this one before going onstage: \u201cBetty Botter bought a bit of butter, \u2018But,\u201d she said, \u2018this butter\u2019s bitter. If I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter. But a bit of better butter will make my batter better.\u2019 So Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter, and it made her batter better.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Boris Karloff lisped, and the letter \u201cs\u201d was his problem. Among the twisters he used were: \u201cShe sells seashells by the seashore\u201d; \u201cSister Susie\u2019s sewing shirts for soldiers\u201d; \u201cSlippery sleds slide smoothly down the sluiceway\u201d ; \u201cA snifter of snuff is enough snuff for a sniff for a snuff sniffer.\u201d A twister used by some radio and television announcers before they perform is: \u201cThe seething sea ceaseth and thus the seething sea sufficeth us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 The sixth sick sheik\u2019s sixth sheep\u2019s sick.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Nine out of 10 people can\u2019t say this twice in rapid succession: \u201cSinful Caesar sipped his snifter, seized his knees and sneezed.\u201d – Frederick John in Insight<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Our Tongue\u2019s Get Us Into Trouble The classic movie, A Christmas Story, is a nostalgic look at growing up in Gary, Indiana, through the eyes of a boy named Ralphy. One scene depicts a school recess in the middle of winter. Two boys surrounded by their classmates argue whether a person\u2019s tongue will stick to … Continue reading “Tongue, cf Speech”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1175\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}