Terms of Endearment



Do you know someone who has the gift of the gab?
Someone who is clever in communicating?
Someone articulate with words?
But the words ring insincere, self serving and false when spoken?
I’ve been contacted by two such people in two days 

After the first I was minimal in my replies, but the conversation and my lack of chutzpah  bugged me and I kept  thinking of a film scene that I couldn’t quite remember clearly enough
I kept musing about of Meryl Streep sort pulling a face

Before the second conversation I remembered the film scene which was haunting me
I was in Sainsbury’s by the udon noodles, and I said out loud Shirley MacLaine! When I recalled the scene  properly .

In 1983 James L Brooks made Terms of Endearment. For those few that may not have seen it, it is a comedy/drama Autumnal love story between eccentric neighbours , the middle aged  Aurora and Garrett,  (Shirley MacLaine Jack Nickleson )as well being a study of mother/ daughter love between MacLaine’s character Aurora and her feisty daughter Emma played by Debra Winger.

In one pivotal scene the cowardly  Garrett finishes his budding relationship with Aurora and does so with all the right words, “ sincere” reflections and articulations but  the humiliated Aurora, who sees through his insincerity, just sits there and vomits out a reply of “ Blah, Blah,Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah , Blah ………Blah.
” 
It’s a clever play by Brooks who lets the scene speak for itself…I’m sure that last Blah was improvised

My second unsatisfactory  conversation was today. It was with Someone who just wanted something from me  A shallow request 
I replied with an equivalent of Endearment’s  Blah Blah BLAH 
Not Meryl today , but with Shirley’s Aurora , totally on board.

Hey ho

27 comments:

  1. i'm too embarrassed to reveal how many times i've watched that movie. i love it each and every time.

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  2. I don't know people like you describe. Maybe they come into my life but they go quickly for me because I have no space for people who are insincere. I don't know the film you describe.

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    1. Watch it, it’s dated but it’s quite a ride

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  3. I can sniff out an actor fairly well by now I think-I try to remain polite but rebuff them smiling-when the penny drops I can see the confused look in their eyes when they realise their facade is quite transparent to me-I was not born under a gooseberry bush as they previously thought x

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    1. I’m less polite with people now , also I see and recognise bullshit easier than I did , even with people I know/ knew very well

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  4. suzanne dorries8:40 pm

    That was quite " endearing" I loved that movie and remember blah blah blah. Both were quite good in that movie but I heard Debra Winger did not get along with the great Shirley Maclaine.

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    1. MacLaine said winger was unpredictable and played rude jokes on her

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    2. She also voiced she was very intense

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    3. suzanne dorries8:53 pm

      Winger also suffered mental illness so I heard.

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    4. That makes some sense looking at her career
      She was bloody talented

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    5. suzanne dorries9:01 pm

      I thought so also but quite a nut job so I read. Ah can not believe everything you read. I digress Must be rummors. Not know.

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    6. She had a head injury too

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  5. You can tell by the eyes and demeanour if someone is insincere. Your response was perfect. You won't wake in the night with a better reply! xx
    PS Hope the new antibiotics are working their magic. xx

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    1. I’m on my second day of seven and have started to pick up

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  6. Barbara Anne9:08 pm

    I'm one who suffers fools better than someone who is insincere, arrogant, and/or uncaring.
    Glad to read you can detect you're feeling a bit better! Every little bit counts!

    Hugs!

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    1. I’m 59 ..it’s taken Me bloody ages

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  7. Which I'd seen that "Blah, blah, blah.......... " before the love of my life dumped me. To quote your good self - hey ho. :)

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  8. Yeah. I know the sort you are speaking of. Blah blah blah is about right.

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  9. especially when I've previously been under the impression they deserved to be placed on a pedestal by their manner-disapointingly it now is of porcelain x

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  10. We all know people like you describe. Their facade fails eventually. Blah, Blah, Blah is a nice way of saying BS.

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  11. Know anybody? Of course I fucking do.

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  12. Oh yeah! Glad you were able to blah blah blah this time.

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  13. My usual reply is " I think I misunderstood, could you say it one more time, because I thought I heard ...blah..blah..blah."

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  14. Aurora Greenway is one of my favorite characters in literature (if you've never read the entire series with her in it by Larry McMurtry, you're missing a treat) and although the movie does not represent the book quite entirely, I think it is a splendid interpretation of the spirit of it. I adore Shirley MacClaine in the role. Nicholson wasn't so bad either.

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