‘W hereof one cannot speak,” Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote, “thereof one must be silent.” It’s a beautiful, brilliant line, frequently misunderstood. People seem to take it to mean that when you don’t know what you’re talking about, you ought to shut the hell up.
Not so. In fact, Wittgenstein meant that when we lack the basic tools to discuss something, we simply cannot. Silence becomes the only option.
Which would be true, were it not for gibber. Lately I have been struggling with small talk. It has happened, I think, because I have started doing a lot more work on the radio and I can never escape the feeling that conversations should be as concise and packed with meaning as possible.
“This just isn’t working,” I’m apt to fume about seven minutes in. “Speed it up! Get to the point! What’s the top line here?” And it makes me feel a bit like I have lost something..
