Wednesday, March 14, 2007

You Talk, I Talk, What?

Never speak of yourself to others; make them talk about themselves instead: therein lies the whole art of pleasing.- J.E de Goncourt

I came across this quote and I immediately thought of how much I talk about my children and our happenings. I guess I am not too pleasing according to this quote. :) Since we are not face to face, how about some pointers on how to get you, my friends, to talk about yourself? Now we flip this quote to your side, and you want me to talk about myself. Help! What do you think is the proper manner of speaking on a blog?

3 comments:

  1. Hi,Helen. I agree with you that blogs, by nature, are not proper. There are no boundaries to them. Even so, I have found it enjoyable to read some blogs and it is a means by which my friends stay connected to me. I have many lurkers who I see at church or other places who comment to me about my blog but will never leave a written comment. Personally, I enjoy giving my point of view and having someone respond with theirs regardless of whether they agree or disagree with me. My husband and I often strike up conversations and "debate" even though we may both have the same opinion. It is eye-opening to understand other points of view. Maybe you could say I love playing the devil's advocate just for the sake of conversation. LOL

    I actually thought the quote was somewhat absurd. It was almost ignorant because it was so one-sided.

    Thanks for dropping by. I really do enjoy our "conversations."

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  2. Jana:

    While I'm still new to this blog world, my impression is that you are supposed to talk about yourself on your blog. It's a way of sharing yourself with others and expression your opion about topics. It's different from an actual in person conversation with someone. I recently finished reading "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie. He advocates showing a genuine interest in others and getting them to talk about themselves. People, in general, do like to talk about themselves. Unless they are very private people. But I do believe conversation is meant to be 2-sided to be mutually beneficial. I think that the conversations Jesus had with people in the Bible were 2-sided, for the most part. Good thoughts!

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  3. Karen - thanks for dropping by. My husband has the book you mentioned. I haven't yet read it although I am sure it is a great book. Not only should conversation be two-sided, but wouldn't it be a boring world without friendly communication?!

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