Susan Primer for Dummies

Susan Boyle is likely the most misunderstood person in the world. Those who do not understand her behavior call it 'odd'. This primer is dedicated to those individuals, who, when they finish reading it, hopefully will learn a thing or two, the least of which being that Susan's behavior is normal, can be understood if the reader is not prejudiced, and that she is one humorous lady. Perhaps in the future these same individuals will cut her some slack, if they don't understand her. They can turn to her avid fans for a logical explanation of her behavior, if need be. So we just want to pull a few examples of behavior that were deemed as odd, and we want to explain them to you:

Susan's Audition
When Simon discussed where she lived, she hesitated, pointed to her head, and then said, 'a collection of villages, I had to think there'. Many individuals have language retrieval problems. Her pointing to her head was not odd; it just allowed her to retrieve the appropriate description of her home area.

After being ruthlessly mocked by the audience when she was asked her age by Simon and said, 'I am 47' [followed by an audience MELTDOWN], Susan responded, 'And that's just one side of me' wiggling her body. This behavior effectively neutralized the situation and was punctuated with a head jerk (meaning and 'that's the end of that!' or 'so there!'). The head jerk closed out the entire negative reaction, allowing all to move on. [Well done, Susan!]

At the end of her audition performance, she left the stage but went back on cue. Had she been coached where to go, perhaps this would not have happened. She may not have been informed to wait. Regardless, this should pass as an honest mistake, although some individuals do have directionality problems, and Susan may be one of them.

Judges' Feedback
When Amanda says, 'yes', there is hesitation for a few seconds, and then Susan speaks ('Amanda, you too?'), perhaps a retrieval difficulty, who knows? Regardless, many people would do this. When Simon says he knew they would see something special, she quickly responds, 'Oh, Simon'.-(very quick wit). When he says, 'it's three yeses', Susan dances a jig, then puts her fist in the air, yelling yeahhhh. Nothing 'odd' here. Her elation was amazing! She leaves, bowing to the audience and blowing them a kiss, a perfect stage exit!

Semi-Finals: Judges' Feedback
After Piers complements Susan saying that she looks beautiful, she blew him a kiss. After Piers thanks her ON BEHALF OF THE WORLD, Susan responds, gesturing like Eva Peron and blowing a kiss. (Who else could she respond like, since the WORLD was thanking her?) Amanda picked up on Susan's humor, and for the first time, I believe, she was able to see how funny Susan really is. When Amanda tried to explain to Susan (as if Susan didn't know) that she was acting like Eva Peron, Susan smiled, and said modestly, 'I know.' When Simon apologized, Susan's response, placed in the conversation at the proper time was 'I know nothing'I know nothing. I am from Barcelona'I know nothing.'* All three judges loved her response, and they all 'got it'. Dec said she isn't from Barcelona, probably for the benefit of younger people who did not get the humorous reference.*

After the announcement that Susan won her semi-finals, Susan puts the hand over her mouth (meaning, 'Oh, my God!'). She walks in the wrong direction but scoots back across the stage like riding a horse (directionality difficulty (?) compensated with humor). Then she does her famous wiggle (certainly relieves tension). But she had to do a special one as a thank you to Piers who said she looked beautiful and thanked her on behalf of the WORLD!

Finals'Judges' Feedback
When Piers said he wasn't supposed to say this, but it was the 'greatest performance in BGT history. 'You should win the competition. I loved it', Susan made a grin (meaning 'Oh, no' or 'Oh, my God'; then she covered her face like in the semi-finals (meaning 'Oh my God); and then she started chopping the back of her head to say one of two things, that she thought Pierce might be on the chopping block for that statement OR that that statement might additionally cost her the competition since there were boos in the background from his statement.

When Simon talks about her staying home with her cat, she does a hand movement, demonstrating what he was saying (again, very quick wit).

Finals Announcement
When Diversity wins, Susan is most gracious, but her wit is still there. She later turns around in a circle, saying to the world, I, TOO, can dance, and then she pulls her skirt up just a little, saying, 'I can also take on Stavros.' It was not an example of her 'flipping out' or of inappropriate behavior. It was merely Susan demonstrating her humor.

Conclusion: Susan has been a remarkable teacher to all of us. First, we've learned not to judge a book by its cover. But have we REALLY understood what that means? If we don't understand someone's behavior, it may indeed be more a reflection on us, rather than them. Cut them slack and try to understand. Ask others prior to judging them.

Susan is a loving, warm, fuzzy, really talented, authentic, person who may be the most famous person in the world.

Let's honor her and understand her before we judge her. Let's take the tabloids to task on future misunderstandings!

*The phrase comes from the Fawlty Towers sitcom where Manuel, an employee of Basil, is told never to tell from where Basil's betting money comes. When Basil asks him to tell in court that the money is Basil's, Manuel says, 'I know nothing. I am from Barcelona', honoring his sworn promise to Basil, who subsequently loses the money. After that, when Manual does anything wrong in front of customers, Basil says, 'I'm sorry, he's from Barcelona.' This again, is a perfect neutralization of Simon's apology, most gracious, and indeed funny. This phrase has worked its way into the British idiom over the 30 or so years since Fawlty Towers was broadcast, so is understood by the majority of older people in the UK, but possibly lost on youngsters and foreigners.