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Sermon Illustrations: Words

In 1987, when Pope John Paul II went to Miami, one man thought he'd make some money by selling T-shirts with the phrase "I saw the Pope" in Spanish. But instead of saying el Papa (which means the Pope), he said la Papa which meant that the T-shirt said, "I saw the Potato."

Even the merest hint of praise or scorn can affect our performance. A recent study, published in the journal Perceptual and Motor Skills, demonstrated how powerful a few words can be. Forty competitive tennis players were shown digital images of balls coming their way. Just before each ball appeared, the players saw or heard comments like "good shot" or "bad shot". The reaction times of players hearing negative remarks were measurably slower. Reader's Digest June 2006 p 127