Pronunciation: \i-ˈlip-səs, e-\
Function: noun
1 a: the omission of one or more words that are obviously understood but that must be supplied to make a construction grammatically complete b: a sudden leap from one topic to another
2: marks or a mark (as …) indicating an omission (as of words) or a pause
*From the Merriam Webster online dictionary
Since I work at night, I have a tendency to overhear more conversations than I should. It is not so much a question of me eavesdropping, but more a phenomena of audio osmosis. People are either tired, drunk, high or any combination thereof. So just like teenagers at the movie theater or those loud idiots at restaurants, malls and street corners, I hear conversations as if everyone were on a cell phone.
Last night was unique, in that the conversation was fairly one-sided for nearly three minutes. There were two bicyclists walking down the stairs with their bikes; a young woman whom I will call "S," and a young man I will call "Mister Ellipis." "Why'd you call him that," you ask? It will be fairly obvious as I you read their conversation in quasi-screenplay form-
S
Babe, are you happy? Because I'm happy!
Mr. Ellipses
(...)
S
Babe, listen, are you happy? Because I'm happy!
Mr. Ellipses
(...)
Cormac
(voice-over)
Jane, get me off of this crazy thing!
S
Baby, I love you so much, do you love me? Because I love you!
Mr. Ellipses
(...)
Cormac
(voice-over)
If you have to ask him this many times and he hasn't
responded, then the answer is "no."
S
Babe, we're gonna be so happy together, I just
know we are! Right, babe?
Mr. Ellipses
(...)
S
Baby, did you hear me? I just know we're going to be happy.
Mr. Ellipses
Yeah...we are...going to be happy.
They had stood their bikes next to bench and then they sat down. He was lying face up in her lap, but he wouldn't look her in the eyes as she played with his hair. They were as close to an unrequited love as a couple could possibly be, while still technically being a couple.
I caught snippets of...
"We don't have enough space. I want my space, S."
"Sure babe, you can have your space, we can work this out. I can feel it."
...and silly variations of that.
Both of them were living in a separate world, and both of them were equally delusional as to what the other one was thinking. They are a young couple...hopefully she will move on. And more important, hopefully they won't make the mistake of marriage. If I were to judge them solely on the basis of those minutes that I spent watching them, he didn't respect her at all and she was giving him far more respect than he deserved.
Before you think I am being entirely too sympathetic to her, she was whining most of the time and no, the whining was not her regular voice.
