Saturday, October 01, 2005

Siphoning

The dynamics behind siphoning (for those that have never done it) are simple. You put one end of a hose in the liquid you want to siphon and you apply suction to the other, generally with your mouth. Once the liquid is moving down the hose, whose end is lower than the liquid being siphoning, you remove the suction and allow the vacuum and weight of the liquid to keep the flow going. It is simple.

We have a similar dynamic here at the house. When we are watching movies or TV shows, Kyle, as a general rule, is not allowed to talk. His words are like a siphon. Once he starts, he cannot stop. They are connected. Every word is tied to the next one. As one escapes his mouth, the other is in the batters box ready to take it's swing, and he just can't stop the process. Most adults, know when to stop talking. Kyle, either does not possess this knowledge, or lacks the ability to stop talking, because once he starts, he cannot stop. For this reason, he is not allowed to start.

This is sometimes compounded by the sheer nonsense of what he asks or talks about. We were watching "The Incredibles". There was one scene where a wall of lava was held in check by a thin wall of glass. This created one of the rooms in the villains hideout. Kyle commented that was strange, that a thin wall of glass could hold back lava. It wasn't strange that Mr. Incredible was a superhero. It wasn't strange that his wife could stretch her body into a multiplicity of shapes and sizes. No, this was perfectly normal, but, a thin wall of glass holding back a stream of lava ... That just crosses the line.

Then there are the "repeaters". These are various lines in a movie where Kyle will arbitrarily take it upon himself to just repeat it once it has been spoken, as if we were incapable of hearing it the first time. In doing so, he obscures another line. So now, we have heard one line twice and missed another. Argh !

So, here is a tip to anyone that has the chance to watch a movie with Kyle: Invest in a ball gag.

1 comment:

Brighton said...

My mother in law does the same thing. I end up having to watch the movie all over again by myself just to hear all of it.