Jack turns to Jill and asks, "So what's the plan for getting up the hill?"She coolly responds, "You know, I really don't have a plan. We can just play it by ear."
"Ok, but if anything goes wrong, it's your fault."
What a strange saying, I say. "Just play it by ear." Could you really imagine someone playing an instrument with their ear? I've seen guitar plucking with toes, but never with an ear. Playing piano would be even more difficult. How could you even hit the keys specifically with just the ear and not the whole head?
Either way, it's a pretty outrageous claim, and anyone that says it is more or less indicating that whatever they plan on doing, it's gonna be impossible. They might as well say "just play it by elbow" or "play it with back fat." Either one of those is just as likely. I think I'm more inclined to trust a person that says "just play it by fingers." That tells me that this person is practical and dexterous. Playing something by ear, on the other hand, is poppycock. That's right, the cock of a poppy. And I would choose dexterous over cock any day.
2 comments:
playing by ear is a culturally biased statement b/c it assumes people have anything to play.
meaning minorities have nothing to play with...
damn white people
"Play it by ear" is a saying that comes from days gone by when the primary form of entertainment was to sit around and listen to people play the piano and other instruments. In less affluent circles musicians had to play the music without music sheets in front of them so they had to play it by ear. The phrase became co-opted, as they always are, and now means to handle a situation without no set plan of action. So I do agree that "lets go with the flow" is a much better way to say the same thing, but I'm sure that you are able to break this phrase down as well to some illogical meaning that will make me look like the pompous dumb-ass that I try so hard not to look like :-) Love this post by the way ... its extremely observant of you.
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