Stream of Consciousness Saturday – Prompt “Be”

~ John W. Howell

Stream Of Consciousness Saturday

It is Stream of Consciousness Saturday again. The prompt for this week is “be.” Linda Hill is allowing us to used it any way we want. This kind of freedom can be downright intoxicating. If you would like to know more about all this prompting and streaming go visit Linda’s site. There are all kinds of other interpretations which are interesting to read. Here’s the link. http://lindaghill.com/2016/04/01/theres-no-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-april-216/

Be by John W. Howell © 2016

“To be or —”

“Don’t go there.”

“Why not?”

“That is the most obvious way to do this prompt.”

“Well, who cares? At least, it gets done.”

“You should have more pride in your work than that little bit of effort.”

“Do you know how long it took to memorize that line?”

“Yeah, maybe three seconds if you were really slow.”

“Okay, Mr. Smarty pants. What would you do with the prompt be.”

“I would be a little more thoughtful.’

“Okay, well then, what do you have?”

“I already gave it to you.”

“You did? Where was I?”

“Hard to tell. You’ll always be a mystery.”

“Wait, a minute. You’re trying to fool me.”

“Believe me. It would be hard to fool you.”

“I’m beginning to get it. You are tossing be’s in with every sentence.”

“Well, I’ll be darned. You’re a lot smarter than you look.”

“There you go again.”

“I would be interested in what you mean.”

“You are saying the word ‘be.”‘

“And what was the prompt this week?”

“Be.”

“So what should I be doing?”

“Using the word ‘be’ any way you want.”

“Can you hear what you are saying?”

“So you are just doing the ‘be’ prompt.”

“That’s exactly what I be doing.”

 

40 thoughts on “Stream of Consciousness Saturday – Prompt “Be””

  1. LOL… I can imagine what Molly would have to say about arguing with you after reading this, John. 😀 Although it does sort of make me wonder how the Bard ever managed to finish Hamlet… Mega Saturday hugs!

    Liked by 1 person

  10. One of the little American linguistic glitches that I’ve noticed with Rhonda is dropping “to be” from sentences.
    For instance; “This needs to be washed” becomes “This needs washed”

    It’s something I’ve got used to, but it makes me wonder what Hamlet’s speech would have been like if Shakespeare had been from across the pond;

    “Or not, that is the question.”

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Be or not be, that is the question. The dropping of the “to” is a geographical anomaly with origins in the East where words seem too expensive to be used. I first heard (or noticed) when a New Yorker told me his partner “needs entertained.” I, like you, was blown away since I was raised in the part of the country where “broadcast diction” is practiced.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Yeah Rhonda routinely drops both the “to” and the “be” from phrases like that.
        Where we’d say “The garden needs weedING” or “The garden needs TO BE weedED”, she says “The garden needs weeded”
        Weird.

        Liked by 1 person

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