Is it just me, or did the phrase “read between the lines” always seem like it had some hidden, magical allure to it? Maybe not that dramatic, but I always got the impression that that phrase was suggesting that if you read between the lines…you’ll get the real point.
What I realized a few days ago is this…if you read between the lines, you’d actually just be reading the text. Imagine a piece of notebook paper……..what do you see between the lines?…….The words.
So this big bad suggestion, “read between the lines”, is really just telling us to read what we’re reading. Basically – Listen up. So maybe it is big and bad. Gotta keep it simple for us humans sometimes huh!
If I did some research (which I love research on word/phrase origin) I’m sure there’s more to the story and to the statement. Without research, my brain tells me that the word “lines” means lines of text, and reading between the lines suggests looking for hidden meaning. But why does the good stuff always have to be hidden? How much time do we spend uncovering truths and ideas? How often to we ring around the rosy only to realize that the truth was staring right at us?
terminally unique 