You know, you can make a small mistake in language or etiquette in Britain, or you could when I was younger, and really be made to feel it, and it's the flick of a lash, but it would sting, and especially at school where there's not much privacy, and so on. You could, yes, undoubtedly be made to feel crushed.
Interpretation
Social mistakes in language or etiquette can have a significant emotional impact, particularly in a school setting.
This quote by Christopher Hitchens highlights the sensitivity of social interactions, especially in a structured environment like a school. A minor error in language or manners can evoke strong reactions from peers, leading to feelings of humiliation or emotional distress. The pressure to conform and the lack of privacy in such settings can amplify the impact of these small missteps, making individuals feel vulnerable and exposed. Ultimately, it underscores the importance of understanding cultural nuances and the potential consequences of social faux pas.
In practice
Discussing the importance of social skills in a classroom setting.
In a public dialogue with Salman in London he [Edward Said] had once described the Palestinian plight as one where his people, expelled and dispossessed by Jewish victors, were in the unique historical position of being 'the victims of the victims': there was something quasi-Christian, I thought, in the apparent humility of that statement.
What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
Never ask while you are doing it if what you are doing is fun. Don't introduce even your most reliably witty acquaintance as someone who will set the table on a roar.
[E]xceptional claims demand exceptional evidence.
The worst days are when you feel foggy in the head - chemo-brain they call it. It's awful because you feel boring. As well as bored. And stupid. And resigned.
Let me tell you something: for hundreds of thousands of years, this kind of discussion would have been impossible to have, or those like us would have been having it at the risk of our lives. Religion now comes to us in this smiley-face, ingratiating way — because it’s had to give so much more ground and because we know so much more. But you’ve got no right to forget the way it behaved when it was strong, and when it really did believe that it had God on its side.
Educate a woman and you educate her family. Educate a girl and you change the future.
Language pedants hew to an oral tradition of shibboleths that have no basis in logic or style, that have been defied by great writers for centuries, and that have been disavowed by every thoughtful usage manual.
The piano is a universal instrument. If you start there, learn your theory and how to read, you can go on to any other instrument.
Imagination grows by exercise.
Consequently he who wishes to attain to human perfection, must therefore first study Logic, next the various branches of Mathematics in their proper order, then Physics, and lastly Metaphysics.
I love developing children as characters. Children rarely have important roles in literary fiction - they are usually defined as cute or precious, or they create a plot by being kidnapped or dying.
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