Dayspring Fellowship Podcasts

You Don't Say Harnessing the Power of Words August 7, 2022 Fifty years ago this month, the Disney classic Bambi was released. In the movie, Thumper, Bambi’s little rabbit sidekick, says a line that’s become rather famous. In fact, it’s actually called The Thumper Rule. I’m sure you’ve heard it, even if you didn’t see the movie! Maybe your mom said it when you were squabbling with your siblings. “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothin’ at all.” Not bad advice, for a bunny!   But a 2005 study by Robert Schrauf, an anthropologist and professor of applied linguistics at Penn State, revealed that regardless of age or culture, people have far more words in their vocabulary that express negative rather than positive emotions. In his study, Schrauf says, "Half – 50 percent – of all the words that people produce from their working vocabulary to express emotion are negative... only 30 percent are positive and 20 percent are neutral." Apparently, though we’ve all heard The Thumper Rule, we haven’t figured out