quote · Legacy record
People say I talk slowly. I talk in a way sometimes called laconic. The phone rings, I answer, and people ask if they’ve woken me up. I lose my way in the middle of sentences, leaving people hanging for minutes. I have no control over it. I’ll be talking, and will be interested in what I’m saying, but then someone—I’m convinced this what happens—someone—and I wish I knew who, because I would have words for this person—for a short time, borrows my head. Like a battery is borrowed from a calculator to power a remote control, someone, always, is borrowing my head.
People say I talk slowly. I talk in a way sometimes called laconic. The phone rings, I answer, and people ask if they’ve woken me up. I lose my way in the middle of sentences, leaving people hanging for minutes. I have no control over it. I’ll be talking, and will be interested in what I’m saying, but then someone—I’m convinced this what happens—someone—and I wish I knew who, because I would have words for this person—for a short time, borrows my head. Like a battery is borrowed from a calculator to power a remote control, someone, always, is borrowing my head.
Approximate author period: c. 1970 AD · modern
Meaning not yet available
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- Author or tradition
- Dave Eggers
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
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- Approximate author period: c. 1970 AD · modern
Approximate author-period anchor from documented birth year 1970; activity date not established; Wikidata Q589497, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q589497 (accessed 2026-10-08). Not a quotation composition date.
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Supplied reference C; CSV row 148049; supplied attribution, independently unverified
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