“The obvious needs no mention” is the kind of remark that will find almost any man willing to vouch for its veracity. Others, in turn, would side with such a man and call him ‘a man of purpose’ for taking this stand. “Only a man without a serious and meaningful thought in his head would exert himself to describe a situation that speaks for itself” is how they would argue to support their decision.
All of which, I intend to prove, goes to show that appearances can be deceptive & conclusions drawn on first thought incorrect. I personally feel that there is often nothing like mentioning the obvious to help a certain situation. I shall venture to make it obvious!
Consider the man who, with a “Hello, nice evening”, tries to strike a conversation with a stranger at a party. For mentioning the obvious thing about the evening he could be accused of casting aspersions over the addressee’s ability to see things for himself. Yet, his remark most often serves admirably to break the ice.
The physician on a morning round of the hospital ward, while telling his patient “You look much better today” could be deemed to imply that the faculty of deriving benefit from a mirror is denied to the latter. Instead, the plain-speaking coupled with the reassuring reflection from the doctor’s face actually makes the patient feel better still.
A cross-examining counsel, thundering theatrically at the hostile eye-witness, often succeeds in winding up the case with a “….. and it is true, is it not, that at the time of shooting you were actually present in the same room, hiding behind the curtain now stained with your blood!”. It is the mention of the obvious, backed by sheer weight of rhetoric, which forces a vivid recapitulation on the guilty mind of the witness and wilts him into admission.
The fatigued husband who returns home from office with a grumbling “I am beat!” on his lips evokes not a reproachful look from his wife for having dog-tired himself but, in fact, gets served promptly with a stimulating cup of coffee. The fact that she would afterwards expect to be taken out to the evening show is not necessarily pertinent!
There can be none like a politician to play the game of obvious to his own advantage. You could trust him to lead the gullible with the air of a man who is telling the obvious.
A paramour whispering “I love you” into his sweetheart’s ear is employing a most unoriginal endearment to speak the obvious. But his sweetheart could be readily made to swear that she finds no other ‘three-words’ sweeter and more precious than these.
And that isn’t all. A ‘thinking’ man of letters, delving into in-apparent nuances of a remark can come up with connotations one would ordinarily ignore. Did you ask if I was attempting to mention an ‘obvious’? Well, you aren’t going to hear me complain of flippancy!
PS: To all my readers, attempting to be nice to me with “Thank you for the wonderful read”, my courteous response: “Mention not (the obvious)!”
PPS: Oh, btw, what’s the ‘most obvious’ fun-remark from you on this article? My answer, if asked the same, would have been: “So you wrote this stuff?”!