Gourmet English: Talking about results.Sounds boring?Not at all.J...

Gourmet English: Talking about results.

Talking about results.

Sounds boring?
Not at all.
Just fast forward a few years and see what it will look like if...

Just fast forward.

• What would happen to the Jews if Jeremy Corbyn became leader of the UK?

• What would happen if Green policies were followed to the letter?
  
• What would happen if we were simply to leave the EU?
• What would happen if Hamas conquered Israel?
  
• What would happen if President Trump declared nuclear war on, say, Iran/China/North Korea?
  
• What would happen if Pakistan and India went to nuclear war?
  

People who took up the challenge of the future:

Some of the best video games depend on this. What if there was a nuclear war? What would life be like afterwards? What would life be like if you became a law enforcement agent against drug traffickers in a tropical island? And, best of all, what would happen if you were put in charge of a railway (Railroad Tycoon) or a tropical island as el Presidente? (Tropico).
Back to the future – great film. 

George Orwell wondered what would happen if the Communists took over in UK. Animal Farm and 1984 were the result. Aldous Huxley wondered what would happen if scientists and geneticists took over the world. Brave New World was the result.

Challenge: Can you do it too? What would the world be like if...

Talking about results.

Sounds boring?
Not at all.
Just fast forward a few years and see what it will look like if...

Just fast forward.

• What would happen if Green policies were followed to the letter?
  
• What would happen if we were simply to leave the EU?
  
• What would happen to the Jews if Jeremy Corbyn became leader of the UK?
  
• What would happen if Hamas conquered Israel?
  
• What would happen if President Trump declared nuclear war on, say, Iran/China/North Korea?
  
• What would happen if Pakistan and India went to nuclear war?
  

People who took up the challenge of the future:

Some of the best video games depend on this. What if there was a nuclear war? What would life be like afterwards? What would life be like if you became a law enforcement agent against drug traffickers in a tropical island? And, best of all, what would happen if you were put in charge of a railway (Railroad Tycoon) or a tropical island as el Presidente? (Tropico). All things that will/could happen in the future.

Back to the future – great film. George Orwell wondered what would happen if the Communists took over in UK. Animal Farm and 1984 were the result. Aldous Huxley wondered what would happen if scientists and geneticists took over the world. Brave New World was the result.

Challenge: Can you do it too? What would the world be like if...

Talking about results.

Gourmet English: Intermediate Trick Two: Describing a statementfor ...

Gourmet English: Intermediate Trick Two: Be accurate!


The way human beings (and maybe animals too – who knows?) think it that we try things and then react. So when we, as children, touch, say, a hot frying pan and get burned, we learn not to do it again.
It works with people too. I have had, as a mature teacher, a terrible experience with an Indian colleague. By a flat lie, he got me into a lot of trouble which caused me a lot of grief. I lived with that for a year. Then, in a new job, guess what? A lovely Headmistress was replaced by – an Indian! He was even worse.
My reaction? I only knew these two Indians! So I came to the conclusion (never uttered even to nearest and dearest) that all Indians are rogues.
Now I have been to our Catholic Church and worshipped with several really nice Indian families from Kerala. I know now that the two dreadful colleagues were the exception.
But it doesn't alter the facts: we humans draw conclusions based on what happens to us. That is how it works.
The remedy? Looking at the whole picture and breaking it down.
An awful lot of racism (see above) is down to this. And it can be discussed calmly by looking at the whole picture. Black knife crime in Luton? Yup. President Obama of USA also. Martin Luther King also. Satchmo Armstrong also. My friend Philip and his family also.

An Example:

In the recent EU elections, the Green Party (EFA) increased its share of the vote. Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green Party in UK was thrilled. It proved that people were becoming more aware of the dangers of climate change. 69 seats in the European Parliament!

When we come to describe the different countries that make up the electors of the EU, though, we get a totally different picture!
EFA (Green) gains masked losses in Sweden, Spain and Austria, and its total loss of seats in Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary and Estonia leaves the EFA without representatives from 12 of the 28 member states of the EU. Far from reflecting voters concerns from ‘right across Europe’, then, the EFA’s truly remarkable successes in Germany (an increase of nine seats), France (an increase of six seats) and the UK (an increase of five seats), actually reflect a marked geographic split on climate issues within the EU. 

It seems environmentalism is just a north-west European preoccupation: not a Green landslide at all.

Another example:

All the Conservatives who are trying to become PM say that they want to get us out of the EU. They have seen the Brexit Party grow. But this table shows the MPs supporting them - and only two candidates are backed by Leavers: the others are backed mainly by Remainers. I wonder which candidate Brexiteers will support? I wonder which Remainers will support?
Once again, looking at the whole picture gives a different result.

But you don't have to stick to politics:

“Brie cheese originates from the Île-de-France region near Paris, home to, the two famous AOC protected Bries: Brie de Meaux and Brie de Melun. The appellation is important because it is a guarantee that a Brie called de Meaux or de Melun is only made with unpasteurised milk.”
Well, we all knew that! Brie is French and limited entirely to France.
But by looking at world production – describing the entire production of Brie cheese – we find this: Danish Brie??? Indian Brie???

Assume: It makes an ASS of yoU and ME.

Welcome to all you US people.
Welcome to the Dutch and Israelis too. 
Hope you enjoy and, don't be afraid to comment!
What do I need to improve on?

Gourmet English: Congratulations!

Congratulations!

You have now passed from Beginner to Intermediate!
So here is the next awesome course of Gourmet English.

Intermediate: Trick One: Listing and design.

We have already described the way you sell your idea. It is by listing the advantages.
So to sell, say, Brexit, you can talk about democracy, about freedom, about saving money, about parliament being freed up. One neat paragraph each.
Or to sell a new EU referendum you can talk about people power, about saving the economy, about dear old Mr Juncker, about the joys of Ibiza in the summer. One neat paragraph each.

Let's go one step further.

Some people do it like this:

• people power,
  
• about saving the economy,
  
• about dear old Mr Juncker,
  
• about the joys of Ibiza in the summer.
  

Or this:

1. democracy,
   
2. about freedom,
   
3. about saving money,
   
4. about parliament being freed up.
   

The good points about this are that busy people can skim through quickly. So it might be a good trick for, say, your MP or for your local School. The drawback, of course, is that the points do not bite home. They are just, frankly, a boring list.

I once made the mistake of reading Mein Kampf when I went for a job interview. (I didn't get the job when I was discovered reading it while waiting outside the interview room.) This is what the book actually looks like:

Finally, the more bureaucratic the corporative enterprise becomes, the more dependent does the status of its white-collar employee become. That is the economic fundament upon which National Socialism rests. The middle classes, the peasants, and the white-collar employees want the economic situation which existed in pre-War days: to be healthy beings with less embarrassment than seems possible to the
'upstarts'.
For an upstart is anyone who, through his own energy,
works his way up from his previous social position to a
higher one.

Oh dear! Muddle and more muddle. It sort of drifts around all over the place. Unorganised, rambling thought. Page after page...
No wonder so few people read it!

Here is how to do it:
(each of the listed points has been discussed, in that order, in the preceding clearly marked paragraphs). To make it clear, I have added the numbers myself:

Many Leave voters see Brexit as a great opportunity. 

1.With the right budget the UK economy could perform better. 

2. Now is the time to stop the monetary and fiscal squeeze, to back private sector growth with the right tax cuts, and to back public sector service improvements and investment growth where it is needed. 

3.The sooner we have a stimulus budget based on the Brexit bonus the better. 

4. World economies are slowing. Now is a good time to give things a boost.

It really pays to organise thoughts before starting to write. Notice how each of the tricks in this very blog is carefully organised and numbered.



Gourmet English: Congratulations!: 

Gourmet English: Debriefing Two.

Gourmet English: Debriefing Two.:

Attitude.

“Global warming – what a scam!”

“Sharia Law – the right path.”

“Cressida Dick says she wants half of the Met to be female.”


As soon as people read these three very provocative statements, they take sides. They already know the answer. All the familiar arguments flood into our brains: it is just like downloading our favourite files.

The aim of this blog is to change that.

Instead of rushing to download the familiar arguments, how about thinking like a Barrister instead?
It is simply wrong to assume that all barristers are in it for the money. The few I have met (one completely naked as a life drawing model) are in it to argue.
It is simply wrong to say of them that they approve of murder, of rape, of slander. They emphatically do not.

Instead of rushing to download the familiar arguments, how about thinking like a doctor instead? I have had the pleasure of knowing some doctors very well. It is simply wrong to assume that they are all in it for the money. The ones I know are in it because they honestly want to help people come to terms with their illness one way or another.
It is simply wrong to say that they love cancer, that they enjoy seeing young mothers suffer, that they relish pain. They emphatically do not.


But barristers and medical people don't get worked up. They set out to use their skills without emotion and to make people's lives better. (What they do at 4 a.m. Is only known to them.)

This blog is to give you the tools to do the same.

Already there have been ten good ideas, based on Aristotle's Rhetoric, which can help everybody – whatever their beliefs – come to terms with sharing their thoughts with other people without insulting them and, we hope, with convincing arguments too.


So let us leave the emotions out and approach emotive subjects calmly and with skill, just like a top silk or a brain surgeon.


Simple advice, but very hard to do.


Practise on these, after taking a deep breath:
“Can we now scrap so-called sex-education and all the rest of the condom-waving and pill-pushing designed to appease and spread the permissive society?”
“When the Mobs are bashing bricks over their heads in Triumph, we'll know that Sharia truly prevails...….”



No downloading: cool expertise.

Gourmet English: Ten Tricks gone so far: Debriefing.

Gourmet English: Ten Tricks gone so far: Debriefing.:

Salesmen and politicians know that you are not selling the product as much as you are selling yourself.
If you look wrong, then people will assume that your product is wrong too. Which is why people pay a lot of money to appear good on their websites. Which is why politicians usually (not always) like to appear smart or carefully – oh so carefully – casual.

So if your argument looks like this:

The political duopoly we have experienced here in the UK for generations has now died if those partaking in the poll act as they say they will. 
The only real option open to the Conservatives now to stand a chance to be involved with forming a Government following the next General Election is via forming a coalition pact with The Brexit Party.

People will assume you are perhaps a little too fond of long words. Talking down. Pompous even.
So they will simply turn off.

Whereas if it looks like this:

The questions to candidates are
1. How will you get us out of the EU by or before October 31?
2. How will you develop a programe to expand our economy, raise living standards, raise our reputation in the world and restore our self confidence as a nation, using all the new freedoms we will have once out of the EU?

People will sit up and listen. Especially if it was written by a serving MP - Sir John Redwood.

Mr Horrid sells cars in our road. 

He blocks pavements with the old bangers which he buys at auction every week-end. He strips down to a pair of floppy shorts and lets his beer belly hang over the elastic waist band. He never seems to sell stuff. The environment is not pleasant. It looks horrid.

My nice old lounge has my leather sofa with lots of cushions. I can lie full length on it to read and watch TV. There are nice flowers. There is even a little table for my drinks and specs. I like to go there. It reminds me of a certain cafe in Dubai (Shakespeare's) where I used to go and lounge on the sofas in front of a tall glass of brightly coloured drink.

If your argument looks like Mr Horrid, full of swearing and insults and mad remarks, do you think people will like to go there? And that goes for the people you meet there too. And the people used as examples.
I thought that some attractive Muslim girls might give a good example of niceness! Silly me. The word "Muslim" put people off. More on this later, I hope.

• Popular ideas.
  
• The assumption that your idea is the very latest, modern thing and that is is used by Young People.
  
• Carefully explaining the good points so people get excited by them.
  
• Sympathetic understanding of suffering and vulnerable people.
  
• Saying something everyone believes in.
  

All these make your argument convincing.
Or in simple language: avoid argument altogether. Just sell the nice bits!
The message so far:

Vinegar does not catch flies: you need honey.

Trick Ten: Relying on Authority

Gourmet English: Trick Ten: Relying on Authority.The Daily Mail use...

Gourmet English: Trick Ten: Relying on Authority.The Daily Mail use...: Trick Ten: Relying on Authority. The Daily Mail used, once, to be a paper for women. But it has still kept a centre section specially for ...

Trick Ten: Relying on Authority.

The Daily Mail used, once, to be a paper for women. But it has still kept a centre section specially for women, with suggestions what to wear.

Go mellow yellow like Taylor in Self Portrait! Get set for summer in vintage Dior like Bella! Take the plunge like Megan in a swimsuit by Misspap. Go bold in a purple bikini like Chloe in Oh Polly!
If you want to look really good, then be like these famous models. Dress in a name that everyone respects.

It works everywhere.

Barbour international Mextil Trainers. Emporio Armani Arco Black Designer trainers. Brand Alley. Russell and Bromley...

If you wish to win an argument, it works too.

CLIMATE striking school students and David Attenborough documentaries helped the 'green wave' surge according to Eamon Ryan.
He said the message to the government is to "wake up" to the climate emergency and respond with action.
Mr Ryan's party is on course to take an MEP seat in Dublin and is in the running in the two other European Parliament constituencies according to the RTÉ/TG4/RedC exit poll.

Three famous authorities support Climate Change Demonstrations! So they must have a point!
Even on Wikipedia, references to the authorities are always listed, even when they are talking about something as obvious as the United Kingdom!

The United Kingdom (UK),^[15]15 "Toponymic guidelines for the United Kingdom". GOV.UK. United Kingdom Permanent Committee on Geographical Names. May 2017. p. 13. “usually shortened to United Kingdom ... The abbreviation is UK”

William Watson Purkey, Ed.D. began his educational career as a public school teacher, rising to a fully tenured position at the University of Florida, and finally as Professor Emeritus of Counselor Education at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. His passion for teaching and leadership has earned him various awards of excellence in his field. He is also the co-founder of The International Alliance for Invitational Education. A noted writer, researcher, speaker, and leader, Purkey has authored nearly 100 articles and more than a dozen books.

As William W. Purkey wrote:

“You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,
Love like you'll never be hurt,
Sing like there's nobody listening,
And live like it's heaven on earth.”

Inspiring words from a great man! Works every time!

PS: If you choose a name that is at all controversial, you will unite all the supporters of the person behind you - but you will also alienate all the enemies of the person too. 

So here is an example:

'She is without doubt not just the worst PM in my lifetime, but the most dishonest': Nigel Farage tears into Theresa May for keeping Britain tied to the EU and tells GMB Westminster 'doesn't get how angry this country is'.

It's remarks like that that make people divide into their camps and not come out and listen. 

Gourmet English: Trick 9: Deduction.Say something which everyone wh...

Gourmet English: Trick 9: Deduction.Say something which everyone wh...: Trick 9: Deduction. Say something which everyone who follows you believes to be right. Deduce your idea from that. Ramadan fasting in t...

Trick 9: Deduction.

Say something which everyone who follows you believes to be right.
Deduce your idea from that.

Ramadan fasting in the workplace

In an effort to move beyond the Islamophobic rhetoric that makes fasting in the workplace much harder than it needs to be, I ask you, my fellow colleagues, to educate yourself about the month of Ramadan. (Who could possibly disagree with that?)This Ramadan, use your unlimited WiFi access to educate yourself on the holy practices of Ramadan. Understand that in this month of spirituality and shunning of some worldly desires, we may not be at full capacity. And to the haters who endlessly claim that it’s not their job to learn about some foreigners’ religion, to them I say: we are all foreigners. We are all immigrants, and so long as the world continues to grow and connect, we all must self-reflect and learn about our community.

(Who can possibly argue with education! Is is a shoo in. Notice how the thought about us all being foreigners is quietly slipped in after, though. It is not, of course, true, but it sounds right, doesn't it!)


Or this:

The void of not living in Palestine, to me, can never be one hundred percent filled, ever. Living in the diaspora is a sort of despair we did not wish upon ourselves; it is our inescapable reality. That is, at least, how I feel.Throughout my time here in Canada, I have met so many Palestinians. I even lived in the Middle East, and I have never met a community of Palestinians like here. We all have something in common: we are desperate to try to define home because we have never lived in Palestine. A lot of us travel to find what we could have had.

(This is a very good example of a topic sentence which cannot be questioned leading to an inevitable conclusion which you cannot disagree with either.)


Both of these paragraphs are taken from a site which appeals to Muslim women, so the words in green resonate there. They probably don't, however, resonate outside the community of Muslim women.

Here is something for everyone to agree with.

Good men never lack rewards, and crimes never go without their punishment; for in all their activities, the purpose for which each deed is performed can reasonably be regarded as its reward. For example, the crown of victory is the purpose of running on the racetrack, and therein lies the reward.

That resonates with everybody even though it was written shortly after the fall of the Roman Empire way back in 500 a.d. by a Roman (Boethius) who had been quite unjustly put in jail by a barbarian invader. The picture on the book cover above shows Philosophy consoling Boethius in prison.

If only the words in green were true!

Gourmet English: Trick Eight: Statistics: a matter of taste.“Everyo...

Gourmet English: Trick Eight: Statistics: a matter of taste.“Everyo...: Trick Eight: Statistics: a matter of taste. “Everyone does it!” And that very often makes it right. Let's take the popularity of ...

Trick Eight: Statistics: a matter of taste.

“Everyone does it!”
And that very often makes it right.

Let's take the popularity of divorce as an example of how to spice English up a bit.

This statement about divorce is all right. Bit it needs spicing up a bit. How?

Divorce was a no-no until the Second World War made it necessary. Men returned from the war to find their wives with someone else. Lady Chatterley became famous: the story of a women whose man had lost his manhood. Then came the 60s when you “let it all hang out” and sex became “gender” and what you did “in the privacy of Woodstock” was your own business.So now, divorce is quite accepted. Everyone does it.Half a century ago, divorce was only for the very rich. Then everyone - including the Royal Family were at it. What had been unthinkable now became quite normal.

This could be a lot tastier if it were supported with a few fact from people who know their subject well!

“Your divorce petition can be initiated online now for just £37. Or you can have all the divorce forms you'll need to send to Court completed for you for just £67.There isn't a simpler, more complete divorce package available in the UK. If you use our 3-step process to generate your divorce papers you can initiate your divorce in less than 3 minutes and save up to £720.Last year, over 22,000 people in the UK used Quickie-Divorce to initiate their divorce petition, allowing them to get on with their new, happier lives using the UK's most popular low cost 'do it yourself' divorce service.”

and:

The latest divorce figures, released last year, revealed the divorce rate for heterosexual couples in the UK was at a 45-year low, with 101,669 divorces of heterosexual couples in England and Wales. But experts said this could be down to the fact that fewer couples are choosing to get marrie

Well, fellow gourmets of English, how we use of statistics is a matter of taste.
Thanks to the internet, all that research took me just a couple of minutes and I know little or nothing about divorce having been very happily married for a very long time.
PS If you use the internet for research it is only good manners to add the link so people can check and so that the sites you use get the credit.

Gourmet English: Trick Seven: Development of Trick Six:statistics.“...

Gourmet English: Trick Seven: Development of Trick Six:statistics.“...: Trick Seven: Development of Trick Six: statistics. “There are lies, damned lies and statistics.” – as Disraeli never said. But facts and ...

Trick Seven: Development of Trick Six: statistics.

“There are lies, damned lies and statistics.” – as Disraeli never said.
But facts and figures can make a very powerful argument. This is from the website of Guido Fawkes:

Despite Guido presenting them with compelling evidence that anti-Brexit billboard campaign ‘Led By Donkeys’ are in breach of EU election spending limits, the Electoral Commission tell Guido that they are simply “monitoring the activities” of Led By Donkeys. They add that Led By Donkeys are “fully aware” that they will have to register if they spend more than £20,000 in England, or £10,000 in any other part of the UK. According to their own figures they’ve already spent over £230,000…

Who can argue with that? The Electoral Commission has at last taken action.


This is from John Redwood's blog. He is trying to support a very hard Brexit:

179 states trade successfully with the EU with no customs union or single market membership

So if they can do it, why can't we?
The thing is: you cannot argue with the facts.
But that does not make an argument.
What Sir John is not telling us is that these trading agreements took many years to arrange. And we have a couple of months only…Facts in themselves do not make an argument.

The danger is either this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxjkvjHn6Qg


Or this:

Like everything else: statistics need to be used very carefully.
I once bought a meal which had a large red bonnet pepper laid neatly on the top. I could not eat it. It was simply too hot. Really unpleasant.
Stats are a bit like that: a hint of spice is lovely: a large red pepper is not.

Gourmet English: Trick Six: Defining the conversation.If you want t...

Gourmet English: Trick Six: Defining the conversation.If you want t...: Trick Six: Defining the conversation. If you want to discuss a topic and convince people that your point of view is the right one, then it...

Trick Six: Defining the conversation.

Sales people are very good at this. It is called listing the advantages.

Salespeople have to learn their script. It is detailed. It describes the product with technical words. Only the good points are listed: bad points come later. (If at all!)
Next time you buy something, listen to the sales rep. They will go through the advantages with great care!
Learn from them and do the same when you, too, come to make your argument. 
Lovingly talk about the advantages one by one. 

This works for everyone.

If you are making a speech at a wedding, talk about the couple and say how nice they both are. If you are saying a few words at a funeral, do the same. List the advantages. If you are writing an essay for a College, list the advantages - the details - of your argument, the facts, the dates, the people, the times. Show how they fit. 

List the advantages of your argument.

If you want to discuss a topic and convince people that your point of view is the right one, then it is important that you say clearly why you like it so that people can see why you like it. 

Example 1: Islam.

The examples which I take for this blog come from all over the place. So let's choose Islam.

Why should people sit down and talk about Islam with Muslims?

The argument:

Islamic terrorists think that by going round terrorising people they can spread Islam throughout the world. They do not bother to tell us why they have to wreck other people's lives. They just assume that everyone accepts their point of view. Which is why they make their religion really unpopular.
When Muslims actually sit down and discuss their faith scientifically, however, it isfascinating and, I must admit, very inspiring too. People usually come away positive.

Examples will expand this.

I have outlined the expansion points in blue. 
Almost any terrorist atrocity will give you the examples you need to show what is happening at the moment.

• There is almost no warning before a terrorist murder. 
• There are a lot of assumptions by the terrorist which are never questioned. 
• Islamophobia is widespread. Personal examples? The internet is your friend - google it.
• Find a victim of terrorism  and say what they have gone through.

So when people sit down and discuss these atrocities, they will be shown up for what they really are. Argument and discussion will expose them for everyone to see. Give an example of someone who has come away positive.

Listing the advantages is a very convincing way to persuade people to buy, to change their mind or just to agree with you.

Gourmet English: Trick Five:How would you like it if...This trick i...

Gourmet English: Trick Five:How would you like it if...This trick i...: Trick Five:How would you like it if... This trick is used a lot on tv. Instead of arguing the case for extra money to be spent on ment...

Trick Five:How would you like it if...

This trick is used a lot on tv.

Instead of arguing the case for extra money to be spent on mental health issues, we are presented with Prince William confiding the terrible pain which he felt when his mother died. The fact that he spoke at all is refreshing, of course, because mental issues are important. Of course they are.
But when we identify with the suffering someone as famous as the Prince, all argument flies out of the window.
We are presented almost every night on the tv news with “the crisis in the NHS”.
Instead of arguing the case, we see a pretty young Mum with her baby on her knee telling how the NHS failed her.

Who can argue with that?

Old soldiers sit on the street, with their heads in their hands. They are not only homeless but they have terrible images flashing in their heads too. They have been diagnosed with PTSD.
They provide a very strong argument which can certainly be used politically: it's Austerity isn't it!
Victimhood is the product of Trick Five. Victims win you the argument.

And it is dangerous too.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks explains in his book (Not in God's Name) how victims get angry with the people who put them there. Then they dehumanise the people who put them there. They then exterminate the people who put them there. Only by now they are no longer people – just subhuman vermin.
Need for examples?
IRA? Palestinians? Israelis? Ku Klux Klan? Muslim terrorists? Nazis? Fascists? All of these groups see themselves as victims of one sort or another.

Nevertheless, when used responsibly and wisely, Trick Five is very effective.

Advertising people know it well.

Placing a victim centre stage is very powerful. 

So is alcohol.

Gourmet English: Trick Four: The use of Time.Time like an ever roll...

Gourmet English: Trick Four: The use of Time.Time like an ever roll...: Trick Four: The use of Time. Time like an ever rolling stream moves forward. The latest is the best. Modern is a good word. Why? Because e...

Trick Four: The use of Time.

Time like an ever rolling stream moves forward. The latest is the best. Modern is a good word. Why? Because everything gets better and better as time flows forward.
So make sure that you put your idea, your passion into a modern setting. The next thing. New.
My mother worked in a kitchen with a brick boiler for boiling hankies (remember them?) and the gas stove produced the foul smell of “lights” cooking for the dog's dinner. At one stage, I remember, we had fleas!
That, today is a joke situation for tv comedies.

 
Why? Because things get better over time.

• So words like new, young, visionary, progressive, up to date, youth, modern are good words to use.
• So words like old, reactionary, out of date, stale, British Empire, historic are bad words to use.

Things, as Mr Blair proved, can only get better.
Here are just two examples of the use of time to convince people:

Now is the time to act, don't just sit there all miserable. Our kids have a very uncertain future, what excuse are you going to make when they ask why you didn't do something about it? (Global Warming).

Bring the children in! It always works. Especially with Climate Change. Notice how I deliberately used the out of date words (Global Warming) to show how the modern words (Climate Change) are the approved ones.

Here is the second example of the use of time to sell your product:

Morning! 2 days left until the winners of the Muddy Stiletto Awards are announced !!!! Please vote for Lolly and Mitch as best women’s fashion store in Herts and Beds !!! All votes were set back to zero when finalists were announced so even if you voted to nominate us you’ll need to vote again for us to stand a chance of winning ! Would be so grateful. 💗💗💗💗💗 just click on the link and type in your email address, they’ll send you a link to vote!!! THANK YOU , 😍

Set an expiry date to make people get up and do it. (Note all the nice hearts and smileys – see Trick One: Association.)

Modern words, of course, are much better than old ones. Get with it! Don't know any?
https://www.urbandictionary.com


In these short paragraphs, you have all the ingredients you need

right now, in the 21^st century.

Gourmet English: The Third Trick: The first trick is to associate n...

Gourmet English: The Third Trick: The first trick is to associate n...: The Third Trick: The first trick is to associate nice things with your idea and to associate nasty things with the opposition. This wor...

The Third Trick:

The first trick is to associate nice things with your idea and to associate nasty things with the opposition.
This works with people too.
Of course, if Prince William, for example, decides to support the mentally ill, lots of people will follow his lead. The centre pages of, for instance, the Daily Mail are full of exemplary celebrities advising readers what to wear, what to look like, what to like, what to dislike.
Follow their lead and stay safe!

Now let's take that one step further.

The French put it best: C'est normal.
Everyone does it!

Please read this hand-out:

If you discover that you have a pregnancy that you feel you are unable to continue with, we will be here to support you to make a decision that is right for you.
We are an independent healthcare charity which for more than 50 years, has been advocating and caring for women and couples who decide to end a pregnancy.
Nearly all of the women we see have their care paid for by the NHS. We are the leading specialists of abortion advice and treatment in the UK, taking care of almost 80,000 women each year in over 70 reproductive healthcare clinics nationwide.

In sales this is called the assumption closure. You just assume a sale. So that is the end of the matter. Abortion – right or wrong? Don't ask! Everybody does it! It's normal.
Oh - and never forget the stats:

50 years. 80,000 women. 70 “reproductive healthcare clinics". 

That proves it is quite normal. (Why is getting rid of a baby "healthcare"? Or "Reproductive"?)

Allow me, please, to shock you.

I would like to remind you, before you read this that I have Jews in my own family and that I was brought up in a school where there were a lot of boys from the East End too. An, yes, I had to read it twice to see if it really was that wicked.

"Whoever had the occasion to be an eye-witness during the slaughtering of animals or to see at least a truthful film on the slaughtering - will never forget this horrible experience. It is atrocious. And unwillingly, he is reminded of the crimes which the Jews have committed for centuries on men. He will be reminded of the ritual murder.

"History points out hundreds of cases in which non-Jewish children were tortured to death. They also were given the same incision through the throat as is found on slaughtered animals. They also were slowly bled to death while fully conscious"- Der Stürmer, July 1938

All these anti-Semitic lies must be true: everyone knows! Everyone believes it! This is the official Nazi government newspaper for heaven's sake!
End of argument.
What utter rubbish that is. Nevertheless it was even taught (and believed) in schools throughout Germany and even, I am afraid, in England that the "Elders ofZion" caught Christian children and murdered them in the Kosher manner.

I could give examples of the assumption clause from all sorts of very debatable places. Euthanasia clinics? Hare coursing? Suicide and self harm websites? Jimmy Savile was made a popular knight of the realm because, at the time, everyone knew he was a saint.
I am sure that you can think of several more examples...

This third trick is so powerful that we have to expose it whenever we come across it.
“Everyone” can be badly wrong.



(PS Did you notice my clever use of Trick One?)

Gourmet English: Trick Two: Use Grammar wisely – and how to takeris...

Gourmet English: Trick Two: Use Grammar wisely – and how to takeris...: Trick Two: Use Grammar wisely – and how to take risks! If you are making a serious argument and get the grammar wrong, then you look an...

Trick Two: Use Grammar wisely – and how to take risks!

If you are making a serious argument and get the grammar wrong, then you look an idiot. People will not correct you though, because they will themselves make typos and then look very stupid indeed. Also it's rude.
Here are a couple of examples:

So we are now asked to believe that the European Council will pull the lever to eject the UK on the very last day of the old EU Commission.Dont the enthusiasts for juncker rule think that might not be a terribly good end and beginning and eject the EU into a pile of criticism?

Judging by the rest of the comment – I'll make it anonymous – these are typos. So I still take the comment seriously.
But this next comment is simply illiterate:

There is one benefit a new broom can bring, its a new approach to the red lines.
At the moment they are all sounding off on the hardest of hard Brexit because that is what the grassroots want to hear.
Lets say Boris actually got his hands on the Crown he is shameless enough to u turn on whatever type of Brexit he is proposing today. And unlike Theresa May he will try and sell his reasons for doing so.

Grammar matters! If you turn up to a law court dressed in a dirty t shirt and jeans, it shows disrespect. If you comment in appalling English. That matters too. It shows disrespect for the blogger.
So people will not read what you write.

Here are some tricks for you to consider:

Nouns: if you want to be clever, use a noun instead of a verb.

“he is shameless enough to u turn”.

Or use a verb instead of a noun:

“We are aiming to meet our target of 100 new builds”

Or what about using nouns as adjectives?

“...which will identify projects and appropriate delivery partners...”

Or adjectives as nouns?

“Objectives of the demographic are:”

Or make abstract nouns plural?

“We observe many kinds of behaviours in the mentally ill.”

If you do this, it makes you look clever. Psychologists do it all the time. So long as you put “syndrome” on the end: RBS (Restless behaviours syndrome), ADS (Anaerobic disorders syndrome).
People who are gourmets in the English Language do not lower themselves like this.

We banquet on the simple.

Gourmet English: Read this:Jack Reacher caught the last of the su...

Gourmet English: Read this: Jack Reacher caught the last of the su...: Read this: Jack Reacher caught the last of the summer sun in a small town on the coast of Maine, and then, like the birds in the sky ab...

Gourmet English: Over the next coupleof weeks, I hope to present ce...

Gourmet English: Over the next coupleof weeks, I hope to present ce...: Over the next couple of weeks, I hope to present certain tricks which will help you win your argument, whatever that may be and wherever tha...

Over the next couple of weeks, I hope to present certain tricks which will help you win your argument, whatever that may be and wherever that may be.

If you are passionate about climate change, for instance – either way – this may help. If you have strong feelings about Boris, Nigel or Jezza, then this could help too. If you feel very strongly about the President of the USA, this may be of help too.

It also works if you are trying to sell something.

Trick One: Association.

How to win your audience.

Start with a smile.
Yes, yes, I know. You know it all already. But can I be allowed to expand a little? This is based on Aristotle's brilliant Rhetoric after all…

Association! Works every time. Salesmen know this. Saleswomen know this.

“How are you feeling today Sir? Good? Lovely weather isn't it, even the sun is shining!” Salesman smiles. Exclaims: “Wow! Have you seen this jewellery? So you have come here from Hunstanton?”
“Yes, actually.”
“Lovely place. My Mum comes from there. Is this your wife?”
“Yes, she is. We have been married for twenty years next year!”
“Wonderful!” Salesman smiles appreciatively.
“And let me ask, are you still in love?”
(Man looks at wife.) “Of course we are!”
General laughter.
“Which one do you fancy Sir…”

Of course, the opposite works just the same for destruction.

Example:

Mrs Thatcher was in office well past the menopause. She stayed in office well past her sell-by date and introduced the fatal poll tax which led to rioting in the streets. 

Queen Elizabeth I still ruled at a ripe old age, her wrinkles painted over with white lead and her wooden false teeth clacking as she spoke, yet still she remained in office. 

Mrs May said she is going to resign soon. As Prime Minister she has stubbornly held to her view that Brexit means Brexit. Like Mrs Thatcher, like Queen Elizabeth I, she too is still in office.

Example:

Anti Semitism: of course, holocaust deniers exist! Of course they do! But holocaust denial is just that: holocaust denial. And we all agree denial is wrong. When people feel so unsure of themselves that they can deny that tens of millions of Jews were deliberately exterminated just a few years ago, they really do need locking away. Holocaust deniers? They need help.
Now let's think about something completely different shall we? 

Our children are being taught, quite rightly, at school that humanity itself faces extinction. Climate change is happening as all scientists agree – except of course for a few climate change deniers.

Example:

Brexit? We have to cancel it. It is destroying the country and setting people against each other. Let's look at the last time there was a referendum in 1973. We voted quite rightly to remain in the EU, (or the EEC as it then was.) Over 70% of Britons voted against Enoch Powell, a man who even in those days was a firm Brexiteer. and Enoch Powell was also a racist.

• Think what you are trying to support or sell. Now think of nice things which you want to associate with it.
• Think which ideas you need to attack. Now think of some horrid things which you want to associate with them.

Works every time.