Queen of the Castle

Language is so interesting. Words have such power when you use them to build up a person, tear them down, educate them, entertain them, or just plain explain your feelings.

So I tend to make it a habit to really listen to people's words when they talk.

Let me give you an example:

The other day, there was a knock on my door. (I need to get a "no soliciting" sign put up.)
When I answered, there was a man wearing a shirt with a landscaping service logo.
Here's how the conversation went:

"Hello, are you the Queen of the castle?"

(Looking at my humble little house) "Sure?"

"All you need is a moat around your front door, am I right?"

(Thinking about the drainage issue we had a few years ago) "Sure?"

"I'm here because I noticed your gutters having a lot of debris in them. I represent (insert company name here) and we are offering a one-time deal of (insert price) to install gutter guards on your existing gutters. The guards we have are unlike any other on the market. They are a 'install and forget it' type deal, so you never have to clean them. And if you ever do feel like they need cleaning, just call us! We would be happy to come back out and do that for you."

"Wow. Sounds like you have a good product there. However, we aren't in that market right now. We have other home projects that are on our to-do list."

"Oh yeah, I see that your front porch might be rotting away. You probably want to take care of that."

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Now, if you know me at all, I don't take much personally. So don't go on a vigilante tangent on how rude this guy is for assuming my porch is rotting away.

Also, the porch isn't rotting. It's also not in the best shape, so... fair assumption.

What I was more interested in was the language he used.

He started by asking if I was the "Queen" and calling my 3 bedroom house a "castle."

Royalty terms. Really building me up to feel like I'm important and well-off. Possibly trying to give me a false pretense that I could afford to toss whatever money he's asking for his way.

Then, he moved swiftly into his sales pitch. 

He pointed out a problem and offered a solution to it. A "one-time deal!" - A time-sensitive sales tactic. I better pounce on it NOW!

(Here's a secret: There is no such thing as a "one-time deal." Specials are offered as an incentive to purchase. I promise, if there is a deal now, there will be a deal later. It might slightly different or worded differently, but it will be there.)

And finally, he did a whole 180 on his language. 

In less than 5 minutes he went from calling my home a "castle" to pointing out what he thought was rot on my front porch.

Funny how a "no thank you" from me turns that language right around, don't you think?

How about you? Have you ever had someone give you the 180 in small conversations?
How did their language change from the minute they said hello to the minute they said goodbye?

It sure is interesting!
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Feel free to take a look at my website and contact me if you want to chat about the art of the English language! www.AmandaBJaeger.com