Today's class was largely monopolised again by cliches, namely seeing how many we knew by heart. It seems that cliches are the link of the literate culture to the oral culture. And as such, they frequently corporeal in their imagery, and deal with animals(ie. keep your eyes peeled, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush etc. etc.). The oral tradition also tends toward being hyperbolic and loves redundancy(because hearing something over and over and over again helps cement it into one's mind).

And we find that literary styles were once deeply entrenched in the oral tradition, and gradually became less so as time went by. For example, the 1610 English version of the opening of the book of Genesis relies heavily on parataxis("and" "and" and "and"), while the more recent translations of the Bible add in subordinative conjunctions--therefore, than, became.

We have also been directed to page 37 in Ong, were he lists the nine primary differences between the oral and literate cultures.

And to close, a quote from Nietzche: I'd never believe in a God who couldn't dance.