I had a nice international walk through Grand Central Terminal the other day.  International in that I met and conversed with men from all over the world – enjoyable, poignant conversations about family, events, with lots of genuine content – life affirming stuff:

“Of course I saw that;  So sorry man;  oh you too huh?;  What were you thinking?;  Good job;  Waz up?; good for you;  That’s too bad;  Hey, how ya doin?;  wow, that looks good;  That must really hurt; Unbelievable;  Cute kid;  How did you do that?;  Whoa;  Cowabunga;  That’s just unreal;  Yeah that really stinks Bro; not a chance”.

A day with many conversations without a single word spoken – no matter what language – all simply from the very effective use of the man nod!

Women just don’t get it.  They want all this continuous conversation to say the same thing that can be accomplished with a nod.  They will go on and on and back and forth and sideways discussing the same thing a hundred different ways.  I mean every conversation should not need a thesaurus.

Of course I can speak.  I can be articulate.  I have been known to put together a few sentences when required. I have even been known to provide an eloquent speech now and again.  I can even use adjectives and adverbs –used a pronoun once-  just to impress when needed.

The point is to be as brief and to the point as one can be and conserve energy at the same time.  It’s possible it could help with global warming too.  Why ruin a good conversation with all those words when a good nod with a raised eyebrow on occasion will suffice.

Women start the trend early on.  I was with my granddaughter the other day and she was being quiet and shy and pointing a lot.  Her mother, my daughter, kept telling her to “use your words”.   And the words will never stop.

I think that Peg thought that I was using the man nod to the extreme on our first date.  I was not exactly spouting eloquently that evening.  I blame it on stage fright.  I must have had a few words slip out however since I did manage to get a second date.  She was probably curious to see if I could actually put together a string of words, make a complete sentence or to hear what language I spoke.

Yesterday I came out of the subway and walked into a little shoe and watch repair shop just inside the lobby of what was the old St. George Hotel, now the entrance to the 2,3 line. It was run by an older Russian man who barely spoke English, which did not matter. I simply held up my broken watch band, nodded when he held up replacements, nodded when he pointed out how much to pay, paid for the work , smiled and said goodbye with a nod and – voila – got a new watch band, and made a new friend without a single word.

Life is good – just a smile and a nod.