Trash Talking
Recently, the rulers of two
of the world's most populous countries were compelled to relinquish their hold
on power: Indonesia's Suharto left office amid mounting violence, and Nigeria's
Gen. Sani Abacha fell afoul of a fatal heart attack--one key element,
apparently, in his nation's constitutional system of checks and balances. Both
Suharto and Abacha, of course, were despicable tyrants, with records of
venality and bloody oppression. Their successors--B.J. Habibie in Indonesia and
Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar in Nigeria--did not quite concede as much in the first
public statements they made, but they did use language that seemed to indicate
an awareness of the value of human rights and democratic procedures. Habibie
committed himself to running "a clean government, free from corruption,
collusion, and nepotism." Abubakar declared himself "fully committed" to a
"social-political transition program" leading to an elected civilian
government. Afterward, observers quoted on BBC radio described the two new
leaders as "making all the right noises ."
Making
all the right noises : The phrase has proliferated over a period of little
more than two decades--perhaps in part because it itself makes all the right
noises. It signals that the noisemaker under discussion may be no more than a
golden-tongued hypocrite, even as it suggests that a reporter, having seen it
all, could not possibly be taken in by the noisemaker's blandishments. It also
leaves open the unlikely possibility that the actions will indeed live up to
the noises.
Making all the right noises, carrying the connotation just
described, seems to have surfaced mainly in British publications in the late
1970s and early 1980s. It surely evolved from earlier use in more literal,
straightforward contexts (for instance, to describe the sound of an automobile
engine or a musical performance) and ultimately from the long-established and
nonjudgmental phrase to make noises (that is, to express oneself about
something), a construction that happily accommodates all manner of adjectival
prefixes. All the right noises , with its stance of jaded cynicism,
quickly spread from British organs (the Economist , the Guardian ,
the Financial
Times ) into most parts of the far-flung Anglophone
circulatory system. Today it is applied in a wide range of circumstances,
especially when the noises being talked of invite a presumption of hollowness,
sanctimony, or hypocrisy.
Here is New York's
Newsday earlier this year, analyzing the economic situation in South
Korea: "Kim Jong Pil, in line to become Kim Dae Jung's prime minister, may
make all the right noises about economic reform, but his own ties to the
chaebol [industrial conglomerates] may be too tight to break." The Times
of London, writing about the British prime minister: "Tony Blair must do
something. And a making-all-the-right-noises kind of Valentine message
is not enough." The Boston Herald , assigning blame for the failure of
campaign finance reform: "In his presidency so far, Clinton has made all the
right noises , but has done nothing while playing the same old games to
raise vast sums."
Given some
of the tendencies of Scripture translation in recent decades, it would hardly
be surprising to see Matthew 26:33-35--the passage in which Peter promises to
remain a loyal disciple scant hours before turning disloyal--rewritten and
embellished to render the response from Jesus as follows: "Truly you make
all the right noises . But this night you will deny me three times."
Among the reasons why an expression such as
making all the right noises achieves wide usage quickly is this simple
one: The phenomenon of empty talk is so prevalent that new ways of describing
it--especially ones that possess a modest elegance and formality--are always
welcome. As it happens, many wonderful terms for empty or hypocritical talk are
by now quaint and archaic ( humbuggery , Pharisaism ,
Tartuffery ), and some of the most common terms are simply vulgar
( bullshit ).
Lip
service, as in the phrase to pay lip service --from the act of raising
one's voice publicly in prayer or song while inwardly harboring contrary
convictions--is probably the most widespread and durable formulation. (Thus,
the New York Democrats currently vying for the nomination to run for the Senate
this fall recently accused the Republican incumbent, Alfonse D'Amato, of
"paying lip service to gay issues.") Similarly, lip salve is
insincere flattery, though it may be enjoyed by the recipient nonetheless as a
form of ear candy . Lip , with its satisfying mouthfeel (to
use the jargon of the food-service industry) and its still-obvious link to an
elemental root (the Indo-European leb , with the connotation ""), has
formed numerous slang combinations whose meanings touch all the compass points
of verbal intention. To shoot from the lip is to speak rashly. To zip
your lip is to shut up. To invite someone to read your lips is to
emphasize your sincerity. To lip-sync is to move one's lips in
synchronization with a prerecorded sound--and, metaphorically, to mouth someone
else's sentiments.
Like paying lip service , making all the right
noises possesses just enough color to be memorable and yet not so much
color as to cloy. It may be in for a long run. In contrast, one has to wonder
about the longevity of its main rival in the linguistic marketplace right now:
talking the talk, but not walking the walk --a vivid expression from
black English that seems lately to have become a mandatory part of the
repertoire of white politicians, corporate executives, consultants,
motivational speakers, newscasters, and sportswriters. A person who talks
the talk and walks the walk is one who acts naturally and stylishly, whose
words and behavior are of a piece; a person who talks the talk without
walking the walk , therefore, is one who is dissembling, ineffectual, or
insincere. The incorporation of walk the walk and talk the talk into
white-bread English, often by people whose jus' folks colloquialism is a pose,
may not bode well. One need only remember how the appropriation of the verbs
dig , rap , and groove by grown-ups during the late 1960s
and early 1970s proved to be a kiss of death.
The extent to which the
expression has found favor was brought home a few weeks ago when Archbishop
Harry Flynn of St. Paul and Minneapolis traveled to Rome to ordain a
Minnesota-bound candidate for the priesthood. There, in a chapel at the North
American College on the slopes of the Janiculum Hill, during a service
otherwise conducted entirely in Latin, Flynn delivered a sermon that included
this injunction to the young man: "When you teach, be sure you receive the word
into your heart before the word forms on your lips. Walk the walk and talk
the talk. Don't preach one thing and turn around and do something
else."
One can
assume that the new priest, in response, made all the right noises.
