And this is my new favorite adventure.
Showing posts with label flirting... with danger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flirting... with danger. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
A Periphrasis Game for You
A while ago, DHawhee posted a bit on her blog (and in Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students) about her favorite trope: zeugma. Which is an Awesome Trope, btw--and is the rhetorical process of joining two very different phrases with the same verb (ex. "He ordered tea and the troops to invade" or, from "So I Married An Axe Murderer": She stole my heart and my cat.)
Anyway, another pretty neat-O trope is periphrasis, a form of circumlocution, in which one uses extra words to convey, talk around, and point to (but never actually say out loud) particular meanings. So, if you're a wordy bastard like me, you're gonna love periphrasis.
Hmmm, you may be wondering, what the hell prompted this blog entry? Well, I'll tell you. The other day my friend was telling me about this game he used to play with his buddies in college. The point of the game, he said, is to name different kinds of crazy based on characteristic. Delicious reference for tropes, I thought? Or super-fun way to pass the time on the bus to school? Well, dear reader, it is, in fact, both...
Here are a couple of the types we've come up with so far:
From his college buddies-
Marilyn-Manson-Crazy--used to mean someone who may look very very scary but is, in fact, from Ohio. Or Florida. And is mostly harmless.
Eating-salad-with-a-spoon-crazy--used to mean someone who is not super-clear on how to get things done in the most, um, expeditious (not to mention maybe culturally appropriate) manner.
Recent additions:
Probably-has-a-necklace-made-of-thumbs-crazy--this is the antonym for Marilyn-Manson-crazy, used to mean the type of person who everybody describes as quiet and polite until they find the bodies in his freezer.
No-passing-in-the-right-lane-crazy--used to denote a person suffering from slow-driving cars on the highway road rage. May lead to binge drinking and invention of new strings of curse words in a row. This happens between Birmingham and Tuscaloosa quite a bit.
Wire-hanger-crazy--violently OCD, used to denote the kind of person who must always be in control of even the weirdest details. Do not mess with this person. May not be quite as bad as the Thumb Necklace guy, but still not the most fun to have at slumber parties.
I'm sure there were more, but I cannot think of them right now, and I have to go to school and GRADE GRADE GRADE. There is probably another kind of crazy for that...
Anyway, another pretty neat-O trope is periphrasis, a form of circumlocution, in which one uses extra words to convey, talk around, and point to (but never actually say out loud) particular meanings. So, if you're a wordy bastard like me, you're gonna love periphrasis.
Hmmm, you may be wondering, what the hell prompted this blog entry? Well, I'll tell you. The other day my friend was telling me about this game he used to play with his buddies in college. The point of the game, he said, is to name different kinds of crazy based on characteristic. Delicious reference for tropes, I thought? Or super-fun way to pass the time on the bus to school? Well, dear reader, it is, in fact, both...
Here are a couple of the types we've come up with so far:
From his college buddies-
Marilyn-Manson-Crazy--used to mean someone who may look very very scary but is, in fact, from Ohio. Or Florida. And is mostly harmless.
Eating-salad-with-a-spoon-crazy--used to mean someone who is not super-clear on how to get things done in the most, um, expeditious (not to mention maybe culturally appropriate) manner.
Recent additions:
Probably-has-a-necklace-made-of-thumbs-crazy--this is the antonym for Marilyn-Manson-crazy, used to mean the type of person who everybody describes as quiet and polite until they find the bodies in his freezer.
No-passing-in-the-right-lane-crazy--used to denote a person suffering from slow-driving cars on the highway road rage. May lead to binge drinking and invention of new strings of curse words in a row. This happens between Birmingham and Tuscaloosa quite a bit.
Wire-hanger-crazy--violently OCD, used to denote the kind of person who must always be in control of even the weirdest details. Do not mess with this person. May not be quite as bad as the Thumb Necklace guy, but still not the most fun to have at slumber parties.
I'm sure there were more, but I cannot think of them right now, and I have to go to school and GRADE GRADE GRADE. There is probably another kind of crazy for that...
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Another website that makes me laugh
Is cracked.com. (Thanks to M for the rec!)
Reasons to read this website:
1) They love lists.
2) They love words.
3) They love making fun of people who are famous or pompous or annoying (or all three).
And here's the real kicker:
4) Dude, they love zombies.
Here are some delicious examples (for your reading pleasure):
5 Scientific Reasons a Zombie Apocalypse Could Actually Happen (I'm telling you, investing in a crossbow might not be the worst idea you ever had. Although, as Max Brooks says, blades don't need reloading.)
The Top 25 Men Who Look Like Old Lesbians (Ha! Bruce Jenner!)
10 Words and Phrases You Won't Believe Shakespeare Invented (Please notice the translation of "Hot-Blooded" and try not to cry laughing).
The Gruesome Origins of 5 Popular Fairy Tales (Fairy tales are creepy. Like politics.)
There's also a really hilarious article about what Valentine's Day cards would say if they were honest. But I don't have a link to that one, so you can just search. You're welcome.
Reasons to read this website:
1) They love lists.
2) They love words.
3) They love making fun of people who are famous or pompous or annoying (or all three).
And here's the real kicker:
4) Dude, they love zombies.
Here are some delicious examples (for your reading pleasure):
5 Scientific Reasons a Zombie Apocalypse Could Actually Happen (I'm telling you, investing in a crossbow might not be the worst idea you ever had. Although, as Max Brooks says, blades don't need reloading.)
The Top 25 Men Who Look Like Old Lesbians (Ha! Bruce Jenner!)
10 Words and Phrases You Won't Believe Shakespeare Invented (Please notice the translation of "Hot-Blooded" and try not to cry laughing).
The Gruesome Origins of 5 Popular Fairy Tales (Fairy tales are creepy. Like politics.)
There's also a really hilarious article about what Valentine's Day cards would say if they were honest. But I don't have a link to that one, so you can just search. You're welcome.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Form of: An Abyss
I could write something about how disappointed I am that the Clintons continue their devastation of the Democratic party (and any chances it might have of putting a sort-of-left-thinking-person in the Oval Office). But instead, I will just post a link to this eerily prescient analogy between Hillary Clinton and "Scream"'s Billy Loomis. Politics is a horror movie, people.
On another (and more hopeful) note, I was just re-watching the scene from "Once" in which the main characters are sitting in the piano shop, singing "Falling Slowly." And it makes me feel better about several things--politics (for no real reason), the possibility of love (abyss included), the impossibility of love (and how accidentally/possibly finding yourself In It may not always Be So Bad), the ephemeral quality of real connection (beautiful and momentary like lightning bugs or Christmas lights or a really cold, super-delicious martini), the fact that ephemerality makes those moments good (because watching lightning bugs in summer trees is even better than Christmas lights and martinis put together).
On another (and more hopeful) note, I was just re-watching the scene from "Once" in which the main characters are sitting in the piano shop, singing "Falling Slowly." And it makes me feel better about several things--politics (for no real reason), the possibility of love (abyss included), the impossibility of love (and how accidentally/possibly finding yourself In It may not always Be So Bad), the ephemeral quality of real connection (beautiful and momentary like lightning bugs or Christmas lights or a really cold, super-delicious martini), the fact that ephemerality makes those moments good (because watching lightning bugs in summer trees is even better than Christmas lights and martinis put together).
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