330 -- Deep Dive into Diving Deep
Monday In Godsfield -- Holy Humor Day -- December 16, 2024
Last week I did a deep dive into a term that I had not noticed in conversation or commentary until I noticed it: Physicality, a word scraped up from deep within the Webster's in order to sound more smarter than just saying "Physical," or "hard-hitting," or "violence." I first heard it related to football, which is no longer allowed to be violent, so it needed a term that could talk about violence in a softer way.
Today, It's time to do a deep dive into another term that shows up in discussions everywhere.
Deep dive.
This is not a term that catches the attention right away -- the way physicality does -- because deep and dive are simple words that four-year-olds can say. And together, they are easy to understand. We are diving deep into something -- presumably a topic.
It's a metaphor, of course, unless we are talking about the 10-meter Olympic sport or jumping off of Acapulco cliffs. And it is easy to be excited about looking at a topic and studying its many aspects and intricacies at the hands of experts -- a deep dive, thanks to those who can go deep.
People get PhD's because of deep dives they have done, after years of research and writing.
People become master tradesmen because of classroom and hands-on study that only time allows.
One can take a deep dive into cello-playing and may never come out.
Today, when I hear "deep-dive," I pay attention, for about 90 seconds, because that is all the longer the dive is, shorter if it is on Tik-tok.
Then I am left on the surface, not sure if I ever left the surface.
Am I complaining? I try not to be a complainer, just an observer, and I am observing that on-line I can do about 25 deep dives in a half hour.
You can listen to my deep dive here in the time it takes you to eat your toast.
Maybe I would be more comfortable with a change of terms -- from deep dive to jump in a puddle or release of a breath full of words.
For nine years I did a radio feature locally, with my friend Rusty Cates, whose three-hour daily radio show included about five minutes every Tuesday of talking with me while I gave clues to listeners about where I was, and then when someone guessed correctly I would tell about the historical significance of that spot.
I did over 400 locations and has given me the reputation of local historian because of all the interesting facts and stories I would tell.
Fact is, in the minute or so that I talked about each spot, I was telling everything I knew, everything I had learned in the deep dive of research I had done for a couple of minutes before I left.
My journalism experience has always allowed me to scratch the surface of a subject and make it look like I just dove deep.
Again, I am happy for the skill, delighted to share what I know, but am not entitled to a PhD in Historicity, or Histocality.
And certainly not in Deep Divety.
Mondays are Holy Humor days in Godsfield because we laugh at the devil whose schemes and attacks drone on no matter how many times he is put in his place.
Where he thinks he cuts deep is actually a surface wound for those who trust that Jesus made the ultimate deep dive, and set the captive free.
We can afford to laugh; we know who wins, no deep dive necessary.
Love ya,
Paul