Black Dogs Don't Talk

I've been thinking...don't laugh.... I try to do that every now and then.

This think is about clichés.

Did you know that there are over 3300 cliches.  What does that mean? It means that we all talk in cliches.

We use cliches to make a point. We use cliches to make a point and we don't know what the hell we are talking about

One of the cliches that confuses me is is “Opportunity doesn't knock twice”.

When I hear those words I always wonder, why not? If it came the first time, surely it could drop in the 2nd time.

What would happen if I were in the shower and I didn't answer the door when opportunity knocked? No one could expect me to answer the door in the nude...especially opportunity. I could understand if I answered the door in the nude why opportunity might not come back.  I doubt if a woman would or for that matter, even a man

However, other than seeing a nude man in the door, why wouldn't opportunity return? Door to door salesmen do.

If that were really the case then no one would ever take a shower for fear of misssing that wonderful person, "oportunity". What a stinking world we would have.

I know it’s just a cliché and cliché’s are just a bunch of words tossed into a pot, stirred around and then extracted by a word witch or just to be fair a word warlock.

But, unfortunately people really do believe them and live by them.

What would happen if the word gurus stirred the pot and extracted, "Opportunity won't knock twice”? Would that change the meaning? What if the pot had popped out “opportunity only knocks once”? Would that change the meaning?

Or...how about "opportunity knocks only at the back door."

Or maybe if the word witches and warlocks forgot to tend the pot and the words just started popping out. Then the cliché might be “Opportunity knocks once, twice, three times or if you are not careful, opportunity will come knocking every night like a love stricken teenage boy mooning over your giggling teenage daughter”.

Then you might hear the knock and scream, “Get the hell away from my daughter!” and it turned out to be that pesky old opportunity. Then the cliché could be “opportunity keeps knocking until you chase it away with a shot gun.”

I think that cliches need to be short and to the point. Something like, “black dogs don’t talk”. You could fit that one into any conversation you want to.

Let’s say someone wants to borrow some money. All you have to say is, “They tell me that black dogs don’t talk.” You’re home free. Who in their right mind would challenge you and claim that, “black dogs do talk”?

The statement is correct. Black dogs do not talk.

The would-be borrower might ask, “What does ‘black dogs talking’ have to do with borrowing a buck or two?” You could continue with something like, "I don't think white dogs can talk either" and then you have shifted the conversation to black and white and then it will shift to politics and you won't have to worry about giving the guy a buck of two.

Most people are afraid to challenge cliches. We don’t challenge them because  we do not want to admit that we don’t have the slightest idea what they really mean.

I once said to a young friend of mine, “It’s tough to make ends meet”.

He thought for a minute and responded, “I guess when you do, you can barbecue them.”

I thought for my minute and said, “No, it's better  to fry them.”

He changed the subject and I wasn't sure if he was pulling my leg (there’s another one of them critters) or whether I was pulling his leg.  

I really didn't want to ask because, as you know “black dogs don’t talk.”

gs batty