Most of us envy those with the "gift of gab." Some would describe it as "blarney". It isn't merely eloquence. Rather, blarney has been described by John O'Connor Power as "more than mere flattery. It is flattery sweetened by humor and flavored by wit."
I once asked a sweet Irish nun if she'd ever kissed the Blarney Stone. "I don't need to" she said, "I'm Irish." The Irish are well known for this "ability to deceive without offending" so it is fitting that the Emerald Isle is home to the Blarney Stone. The stone itself is cemented into a wall in Blarney Castle where millions of people have literally bent over backward to kiss the stone.
I've made the trek to the castle and kissed the stone. But I can't claim to have gained the gift. I'm more inclined in another direction. I operate on the principle "the less said, the better." As Sergeant Joe Friday used to say, "Just the facts, ma'am."
Robert Southey made the case with this phrase: "Words are like sunbeams, the more condensed they are the deeper they burn." If you've ever focused sunbeams through a magnifying glass onto a leaf or piece of paper, then you've seen this with your own eyes.
While many are able to quote Lincoln's Gettysburg address, I couldn't tell you anything about the main speech that day by Edward Everett. One sermon critic described it this way: " It doesn't have to be eternal to be immortal."
I once asked a sweet Irish nun if she'd ever kissed the Blarney Stone. "I don't need to" she said, "I'm Irish." The Irish are well known for this "ability to deceive without offending" so it is fitting that the Emerald Isle is home to the Blarney Stone. The stone itself is cemented into a wall in Blarney Castle where millions of people have literally bent over backward to kiss the stone.
I've made the trek to the castle and kissed the stone. But I can't claim to have gained the gift. I'm more inclined in another direction. I operate on the principle "the less said, the better." As Sergeant Joe Friday used to say, "Just the facts, ma'am."
Robert Southey made the case with this phrase: "Words are like sunbeams, the more condensed they are the deeper they burn." If you've ever focused sunbeams through a magnifying glass onto a leaf or piece of paper, then you've seen this with your own eyes.
While many are able to quote Lincoln's Gettysburg address, I couldn't tell you anything about the main speech that day by Edward Everett. One sermon critic described it this way: " It doesn't have to be eternal to be immortal."
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