I am not trying to say you can't use the word "trick" Noobini and in North America you are free to use any word you wish. I was just simply trying to explain why I choose not to.....

Fingers I think you are right ,a trick is just a trick if you open with that statement to a laymen. It just becomes a "challenge" to them, they just think you are using "trick coins" as you already presented it as a trick to start off with.

Presentation to me is the key , and this is somethink I am looking into more ,without the right presentation you do not really create any magic.

Now that part of this I agree with. I just think that a spectator who senses that the magician is trying to be above doing mere mortal tricks will think "look, a another magician with a god complex".

I don't mean it in that light Noobini. Ha, I definately don't want to give my spectators the impression I am "Godly". That would be the last thing I would want to do. I just don't want them to think I am trying to "challenge" them or their intelligence in any way. All I am saying if you say the word "trick" it often is taken as a challenge to the spectators. I don't want them to have that impression either. I just want them to believe I am simply performing, relax and enjoy.....

Fingers I understand you, sometimes people read into things wrong ,i had this on my Latta POST "Trick with 3 coins" everyone just picked up on the point I made when I said "i have it down" most people thought I could do all the routine perfectly but I never stated that ,as later stated ,i was only referring that I could do the sleights involved whether they were good enough to fool anyone was another matter as I had not performed it for anyone .I am still working on it myself and changing the parts that I feel don't look good.lol

shaun.

I understand, Finger. I also realize that my post may have sounded more aggressive/sarcastic than it was intended. It was not intended to be any more than a challanging viewpoint.

I don't personally believe that a spectator will perceive a... an... er... what you do in any greatly different way no matter if you refer to it as a trick or not. There are of course many subtleties to English that I probably don't understand.

In my part of the world magic is somewhat untrendy so it would be a point to perhaps take a joking stance and say something which is in a way a parody of the genre, or people's idea of it. I myself like the concept of (jokingly) pretending not to know how something is done, much like your opening examples. It just happens, "isn't that weird?" But I would have an obviously far out explanation for it.

I don't think the spectators will try any more or less to figure you out because of that. Opening lines of this unserious unpretentious nature would set the spectator at ease that you are not nearly as weird and out of touch as the image they may have of magicians. They don't have to worry that you will suddenly start to channel their dead grandparents or anything like that.

So a relaxing atmosphere will hopefully be established and they will perhaps not be aggressive enough to suddenly grab cards or anything like that. I myself really thought magicians were a bunch of freaks before I got into it and I imagine that many others here feel that a magician may potentially be a bit creepy. It's not a very ordinary form of entertainment here.

Actually, the dog comparison is kind of funny. I can suddenly see myself making a joke about having just advanced from fetching sticks. Or "I finally taught my dog how to fetch the newspaper and in return he taught me this card trick... watch"...

Fingers - Great topic!

I think some of this covers programmed response! Imagine you have just walked into a TV shop and an assistant walks up to you an says " Can I help you?"....my programmed response is "No I'm just looking!"

If the same shop assistant came up to me and said "Here...(passing you the remote control) you may like to have a play with this...this TV has got some really great features...if you just press this button here...etc etc!"

I think the same can be said of how we introduce our "tricks". "Have you seen this?" "Watch..." is the sort of thing a friend would say when they have something exciting to show you or "Here's a bit of fun for you!" i.e you're allowed to enjoy this!

Watching Paul Harris present a trick he seems to have a really gentle approach, he wins his audience over and befriends them and let's the magic become the center of attention. I think of a magician as being a salesperson, you've got to get your opening pitch right else you'll loose the sale. And people buy people not products!

"Hi, I'm Albert whats your name?" the opening line to Albert Goshmans show (If you discount " that's me!" of course )....in other words...you the spectator are important to me the magician and I want to get to know you before I entertain you! Is that similar to what you are trying to get across?

No problem Noobini. I suppose my feelings on the subject have a lot to do with the type spectators I tend to encounter here. I am sure it is probably a lot different over there.

Thanks Chris and you are on the right track leading towards my way of thinking. Your examples are very good at expressing my point.....