What was he talking about?--you make the call!
[Dad--walking hunched over.]
Me: Dad, you should take yoga classes like your sister said to. Then you will not be so stiff from running.
Dad: Yeah, that reminds me. I was stretching after running the other day, and about 20 yards away from me, there was this dog that somebody was taking for a walk. And the dog was just fascinated by me stretching. It just stared and stared at me.
Me: What does this have to do with yoga?
Dad: Its owner tried to pull it away, but it was just staring and staring at me stretching. The owner tried to pull it away. She didn't pull it awfully hard, but she pulled on its leash pretty hard. [Demonstrates with hard, but not awfully hard, pulling motion.]
Me: [Abandoning "yoga" as a topic of conversation] What kind of dog was it?
Dad: A golden retriever or something like that.
Me: And what do you make of this?
Dad: I don't know!
3 comments:
He is wily.
How come when I tried that tactic with you it never worked?
This is yet another example of the old man conversation. Old men do not have time for a full blown conversation. Especially one that involves input from you.
So you say "Yoga" and your father thinks. Hmmm, Yoga. That's like stretching. But I stretch all the time. So I don't think Yoga would be all that beneficial. Besides I think it's kinda fruity. I bet Laurie thinks I don't stretch, but that's because she just doesn't see me stretching. But I always stretch outside. But maybe that's not such a good idea, because of the whole dog thing. I wonder if that dog thing is normal...
"Yeah, that reminds me. I was stretching after running the other day, and about 20 yards away from me, there was this dog that somebody was taking for a walk."
The key is to realize that for him, this is a logical continuation of your suggestion.
What do you mean, you tried that tactic? What tactic? And you like yoga.
But it's a good point that this is yet more evidence of the 'skipping several steps in the conversation in order to save time and anyway, those steps are obvious to all of us' phenomena.
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