Tuesday, April 13, 2010

I'm Just Thinking on Paper Here

I was talking to my friend R, who lives in NYC, and she had some time to talk tonight but told me she was heading out later. "In one hour, I am going to salsa," she said. She's a native English speaker - someone, in fact, who can really turn a phrase - but this "in one hour" part was so precise, so odd-sounding, I started laughing. It was like a Russian from some sixties spy movie, trying to fit in idiomatically and failing just enough to make him suspect. "In one hour, we will salsa and drink decadent American drinks...please to synchonize your watches now."

"But there IS a Russian in my salsa class," she said. He teaches dance moves sometimes, and she gave a fair approximation of his way of speaking (please speak this outloud in a faux Russian accent, which is really actually a fun thing to do even if it's kind of insensitive): "Yes, and now you turn the woman, placing foot here...yes, and without too much overthinking."

Too much overthinking - that's the golden part. Apparently, you want to dance salsa with just the right amount of overthinking. And doesn't overthinking imply...well....that it's already too much thinking?

But I know I'm overthinking it.

1 comment:

  1. I like this -- "just the right amount of overthinking" HA! U funny :)

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