Tree Full of Owls

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Sonia Goddekin. I’m calling from Mansfield, Texas.

Mansfield, Texas. Welcome to the program.

Thank you.

What can we help you with today?

Well, my husband, who hails from Arkansas, has used the phrase, a tree full of owls, on me. And I assumed it meant that I was surprised or amazed at something. And I’ve gone on that assumption for a while. Until recently, he told me, no, it’s more like, you don’t really know what you’re talking about, or it’s kind of a different phrase for duh. But I was just curious about, have you heard that phrase before?

How does it go when you’re talking? Is this in the middle of a fight, or is this bedroom talk? Is this over dinner? When does this come up?

Well, I had said something. I’m not sure what it was. I don’t recall. This has been a while back. And he just said, well, you’re sitting there like a tree full of owls. And I just assumed it, and I took it to have a good meaning, that it meant I was surprised or amazed at something. He more recently has confessed to me that, no, he actually meant that I didn’t know what I was talking about.

And what does your divorce lawyer say about this?

Have not consulted him yet.

Oh, okay. So he meant you looked dumbfounded or something?

Well, that’s kind of, I just thought it meant that I looked surprised at something he had said. But he seems to think that his father used to use the phrase when he was talking about someone who didn’t know what he was talking about.

Oh, how interesting. Because I’m imagining a tree full of owls, all these heads facing one way, big eyes staring, right? Which you might think dumbfounded pretty much fits, right?

Yeah, sort of blinking. Or nonplussed, right?

Right. Or saying, who? Who? It certainly does create an image in one’s mind.

It does. It does. And what’s so interesting about this phrase is I’ve seen it lots of different ways for lots of different uses. But it’s almost never a negative, right?

No. I think of it as, I’ve seen it as wiser than a tree full of owls, you know, because we think of owls being really wise. I’ll take that one. But I do find it also crazy as a tree full of owls. But that’s not the same as your husband’s use either.

No, not exactly. Or surprise. You know, he was so surprised, you know, his eyes were really big, and he was looking like a tree full of owls. I mean, owls are really compelling creatures. You know, there were the famous owls here in San Marcos, in San Diego County.

The burrowing owls?

Well, there was a family that put their owl cam on in their little owl house.

Oh, right. It was up again this year.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, and they had millions of hits on the Internet. You might want to go look at the owl cam.

So the underlying message I’m getting from you is that you’re not understanding, which I’m not understanding, is why it’s a negative, right? A tree full of owls doesn’t really seem like a bad thing to me. Unless you’re just sort of blinking stupidly.

I can see that.

What are you saying about our caller, Sonia?

I’ll wrap her over here if you want.

No, actually, I like the wise one. I think I’ll take that one.

Yeah, take that one. I’ll explain to my husband that he has it all wrong. Because ever since Athena, owls have, even before that, owls are considered a source of wisdom and a representative of the greater knowledge.

Right.

Exactly. Absolutely. Well, I’ll straighten him out on this point. Thank you very much.

Yeah, do. And you know what, Sonia? You can tell him the next time he says that, you can say, oh, are you saying I look strigiform?

Oh. What does that mean?

I’ll have to look that one up, too.

Yeah, S-T-R-I-G-I-F-O-R-M, which means looking like an owl. Strigiform.

Oh, very good. Strigiform. I mean, he’s going to have to say you’re wise after that, right?

I knew you would come up with something.

Thank you.

You’re welcome, Sonia. Great talking to you. Take care.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

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