Where did the term ‘pulling your leg’ come from?
October 30th, 2009
Actually, in the days of guillotines, beheading and hangings, pulling ones leg usually was relegated to the immediate family members of a hanged person in order to complete the process of breaking the unfortunates neck that the initial fall did not accomplish.
Gruesome… How about some even more gruesome stuff…
Imagine you were walking down the street. There, on the corner is a nude woman. Would you take a moment and pause to look? What if on that same street corner, you saw Jay Leno doing stand-up comedy. Would you stop to listen in… if even for a moment.
Are you the kind of person who would “stop and smell the roses?”
Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approx. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.
After 3 minutes, a middle-aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace, stopped for a few seconds, and then hurried to meet his schedule.
4 minutes later:
The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.
6 minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.
10 minutes:
A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. Several other children repeated this action. Every parent, without exception, forced his or her children to move on quickly.
45 minutes:
The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money, but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.
1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.
Findings:
No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.
Joshua Bell playing incognito in the Metro Station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste, and people’s priorities. The questions raised: “In a common place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?”
One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made…. How many other things are we missing?
The story above is true… In many ways I wish it wasn’t. But it belies that state of the human condition as a lifestyle… and in that, we should be ashamed.
In our travels, we have seen many people who rush from one place to another never stopping to take in the sights and sounds around them. I pray that I never become one of those people.
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It’s why I ride a motorcycle with the people in my club.
Until next time…
