Perfection and wabi sabi in Pageants

The viral response to Miss Utah, Marissa Powell, flubbing her answer to a question during the Miss Teen USA Pageant personifies the fear that many have about public speaking:  they will be made fun of for being less than perfect.  

NPR’s Linda Holmes says of the question asked that, “…it's basically a test of your ability to generate cow patties on command.”  So Powell’s not a great bull sh*tter.  Given a second chance on the Today Show she answered fine.  

Beauty contest entrants focus on maximizing how they present themselves in many ways.  They are striving for perfection.  Salvador Dali has said, “Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it”.   

Striving to be perfection can achieve excellence, but for another twist in thinking consider the Japanese concept of wabi sabi.  It is about finding beauty in imperfection.  

The viral response, both bullying and accepting, has overshadowed that Erin Brady of Connecticut won the Pageant.  The now notorious Powell did go on to be 3^rd Runner Up in the competition.  That’s pretty close to perfection.  She is grandly gorgeous and more beautiful because of her humanity. 

Doyoursentencesrunonandonandtheaudiencedoesn’tknowwheretheystop?Orwhentheystart?

Doyoursentencesrunonandonandtheaudiencedoesn’tknowwheretheystop?Orwhentheystart?  Having trouble with, like, vocalized pauses?  

For a cure, watch as Victor Borge teaches his Phonetic Punctuation System.  This could revolutionize how people improve their speech delivery skills! 

Matzo ball or dumpling?

“Knaidel” was the winning word for 13 year old Arvind Mahankali at the Scripps 2013 National Spelling Bee.    Knaidel brought victory to the 13 year old and it brought heuristic coincidence being a German Yiddish word.  

Apparently German knödel is the same thing as Yiddish knaidel, but the words are pronounced differently.  Hear knaidel pronounced.  Hear knödel pronounced.  

“The map is not the territory” according to Alfred Korzybski, the father of general semantics, but in this case at least the territories are the same.  Apparently both knaidel and knödel are different maps for the same dumpling.  

People are judged by the way they pronounce or use words.  Which is the “right” map?  In this case the answer is easy:  use either one.  

Katz's Delicatessan

Elsewhere people get in a snit by mispronunciations.  My wife, Barbara Chatterton Frye is realtor that wants to sell houses.  She winces but doesn’t worry if you add an extra syllable to her occupation: “real a tor”.  The Greek restaurant doesn’t care if I can say “gyro” with a hard “g” or a soft “g” as long as I order their sandwich.  Judging others this way doesn’t usually build the relationship needed by someone that needs to get something accomplished.  

German words were Arvind’s nemesis in past bees, and now he has victory through German Yiddish.  He won $30,000 and more.  Words can be 2 edged causing downfalls from judgment or connecting as intended.  For the rest of us a bad matzoh makes a good paperweight.