Have you ever noticed how certain professions take on their own lingo, and only the fairly initiated in that profession know what they are talking about? We have things like psychobabble, governmental doublespeak, Eduspeak, technobabble, just to name a few. Well, I want to add one to the ranks.....DollyBabble.
There have been several times, in different dollmaking groups I have belonged to, where we have said things to each other that someone on the outside looking in would think there was something seriously wrong, if not criminally insane, with us. To the DollyBabble Uninformed, we would seem as if we weren't working on all thrusters, as it were.
Here is one example, that happened to yours truly awhile back. I was talking with a good friend, who also makes dolls, and we were out in a public place. Well, I may be Deaf, but there is no way ANYONE could ever ever EVER call me mute!! I lost my hearing many years after acquiring speech, so with people who are less acquainted with sign language, I tend to use my voice. I also tend to be a little LOUD since I can't gauge my volume. At any rate, we were talking about our plans for the weekend. She was going to be busy doing "other" things, when I let her (and the immediate vicinity) know:
"Well, my sweet hubby and son are going up North to pick up Gram, so I'm going to use the time to stay home, and have fun making babies."
Now...to my friend, that made perfect sense and was a very innocent, very sensible and wonderful thing to spend my weekend on....making my dolls with no family interruptions. Doesn't happen often, wouldn't want it to, but when it does, I capitalize on it, and it keeps me from getting lonely and missing them. But to the people who were around who heard that and had NO context whatsoever...well, let's just say that my friend couldn't breathe for a few minutes, and had a rough time staying vertical, as she saw the expressions of horror and disgust on their faces. I was a bit slower on the uptake, but then my friend said between gasps of laughter, "Vicki....replay and think about what you just said...."
Have I ever mentioned that I blush easily?
Another incident happened with another dollmaker. She was with family members, not close ones, who would know what she meant, but out of state inlaws who had no idea what her hobbies were. Well, she was talking with a family member who DID know, and was commiserating about how she had gotten all the way to the end of a doll only to realize she had one arm sewed on backwards (something allll of us have done, along with both arms backwards, and ending up with two right feet...that's another story, smile). Anyway, my dollmaking friend was so frustrated that she told the family member, "I'm just going to go home, rip off the head, tear out the arms and then do it all over again." The entire room became eerily quiet...with other dollmakers, that pronouncement would have been met with sage nods of the head and understanding...in her case, the relatives decided that they just had to take a trip to Walmart at that moment. And that wasn't the end of it...my poor friend put her foot in it the next day, when she pronounced to one and all, "I have to go home and clean...I have baby body parts strewn all over the diningroom table and we can't eat with them there." Come to think of it, I think she told me those particular relatives have never been back...
All this to say, that it is best not to judge others by the superficiality of what they say, be it technobabble, Eduspeak, or any of that. If you aren't part of the initiated, just assume that there are forces going on behind the scenes that you are unaware of, smile.
Now please excuse me, while I go rip a leg off a baby monkey....
Happy Dolling,
Victoria
These are great for using to reinforce bunny ears on the bunny suits I make for the dolls...
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