Archive for January, 2012

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A modicum of emoticons

January 15, 2012

On ADS-L, some coverage of l’affaire Meghan McCain, the MSNBC reporter who declared on camera on the 9th that the Obamas deserve “an emoticon of privacy”; New York Magazine coverage here, with the video.

Ben Zimmer wrote:

A simple malaprop for “modicum,” or more of an eggcorn? (She said it twice, so it wasn’t just a slip of the tongue.) An emoticon is a small squiggly thing, so I can vaguely see a semantic basis for it.

Two issues here: what she said, and what caused her to say it. But first, a note on “an emoticon of privacy”.

(more…)

Posted in Errors | 1 Comment »

Ask AZBlog: passive query

January 15, 2012

From Nicholas Kristof’s NYT opinion column 1/8 (“A Poverty Solution That Starts With a Hug”):

The science is still accumulating. But a compelling message from biology is that if we want to chip away at poverty and improve educational and health outcomes, we have to start earlier. For many children, damage has been suffered before the first day of school.

Then on 1/9 commenter Mar Rojo (on Barbara Partee’s 1/4 Language Log posting “Nate Silver knows his passives”) added a query about that last sentence, and e-mailed the query to me:

After reading Geoff Pullum’s description of the passive in English, I thought I knew my passive. Now I’m not sure. A few commenters on a certain language forum have claimed this as passive: “For many children, damage has been suffered before the first day of school.” Is it?

The short answer is Yes.

(more…)

Posted in Passive, Syntax | 1 Comment »

Surreal estate

January 15, 2012

Today’s Bizarro, with a phrasal overlap portmanteau in the art world:

Don Piraro has managed to combine allusions to surrealist artworks with ten of his characteristic symbols: the Eyeball of Observation, the Pie of Opportunity, K2, the Fish of Humility, the Arrow of Vulnerability, the Crown of Power, the Flying Saucer of Possibility, the Inverted Bird, the Bunny of Exuberance, and the Dynamite of Unintended Consequences.

Posted in Art/lit/music/film, Linguistics in the comics, Portmanteaus | Leave a Comment »

Electronic life

January 15, 2012

Today’s Zippy:

Zippy undergoes the information revolution (liking, linking, sharing, downloading, YouTubing, web surfing, texting, and video conferencing) … in his head, which is suffering from the demands of electronic life.

Posted in Linguistics in the comics, These modern times | Leave a Comment »

BB

January 15, 2012

I’ve been watching the tv series Once and Again (on dvd), recalling the pleasures it gave me in its original run. From the Wikipedia entry:

Once and Again is an American television series that aired on ABC from September 21, 1999 to April 15, 2002. It depicts the family of a single mother and her romance with a single father. It was created by Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, the same team that created thirtysomething and produced My So-Called Life.

One of the show’s unique aspects was the “interview” sequences filmed in black and white and interspersed throughout each episode, where the characters would reveal their innermost thoughts and memories to the camera.

The central figures are Lily Manning (played by Sela Ward) and Rick Sammler (played by Billy Campbell). In an episode I watched yesterday, both their mothers came to visit — so we got two fine character actors in the scenes: Bonnie Bartlett (as Lily’s mother) and Barbara Barrie (as Rick’s mother). Two BBs.

(more…)

Posted in Art/lit/music/film, Names, Pop culture | Leave a Comment »

Wrapping it up

January 14, 2012

From Max Vasilatos on Facebook, this impractical but entertaining piece of men’s underwear:

The text:

Zakk Present Boxer Brief, men’s underwear (sort of) Low rise forest green [which looks really black in the photo] stretch velvet “Present” short boxer brief with red bow detail. What a great package! Perfect gift idea for men under $30.00

Another play on package, as in many other underwear ads.

For much loucher underwear, see my recent XBlog posting on Mien men (not for the kiddies or the modest, not safe for work).

[Addendum January 15th: A bonus in the text is the attachment ambiguity in

Perfect gift idea for men under $30

— where the intended attachment of under $30 is high, modifying gift idea for men, while the NP is likely to be understood as having low attachment, with under $30 parsed as a postmodifier of men. This possibility has led to some banter on Facebook, along the lines of “I’m easy, but I’m not that cheap”.]

Posted in Ambiguity, Language of clothing | 1 Comment »

Art, politics, and music

January 14, 2012

… in Zippy’s world today:

Another in a long series of Zippy strips with (a) modern art and (b) specific locations in them. None of these conjunctions are invented. So I’m sure that these are two real pieces in a real place. But what pieces and which place?

If you go to the Zippy website and look at the archive of strips, you’ll find a “Where’s Zippy?” button, which lets you pick a particular strip (by date) and find out what it depicts and where it’s set. Unfortunately, it seems to be several years behind the times, so it will be a while before we find out what’s going on in this one. Anyone know?

Meanwhile, there’s Zippy’s idea that modern art is so satisfying (to him) because it isn’t about anything (unlike much other art and literature in general, which is stuff that’s about stuff). Maybe he should ask how it’s organized. Or what it does. Or what it shows. Or how it works. Or what it feels like. Or something. (Pity the artist who’s applying for a grant and has to supply text along one or more of these lines.)

Posted in Art/lit/music/film | Leave a Comment »

Strong language

January 14, 2012

On NPR’s Morning Edition yesterday, a StoryCorps segment by Nathan Hoskins, on growing up in rural Kentucky and knowing from an early age that he was gay — preceded by the warning:

Listeners should know that there is strong language in this conversation.

The strong language in question is one occurrence of the word faggot, in a shocking story: his mother intercepted an affectionate note to him from another boy, took him (and a shotgun) out in the car into the country, stood him up against a tree and told him she’d blow his head off “if he ever decided to be a faggot” — so he got good at concealing the truth. (Even after he came out to her, years later, she never admitted she was wrong; apparently, she believed she’d done the right thing.)

The shotgun story is, as I said, shocking, and the word faggot seems to me to be a crucial element in it.

At least they didn’t bleep it.

 

Posted in Gender and sexuality, Language in the media, Taboo language and slurs | 1 Comment »

Significant otters

January 13, 2012

From Kim Darnell, this image (one of many you can find with this bit of wordplay in it):

Full of resonance for me, given a sexy poem I once wrote for my man Jacques.

(more…)

Posted in Gender and sexuality, Language play, Poetry | Leave a Comment »

More vignettes from gay life

January 13, 2012

Following on the first batches of XXX-rated comic homoerotic collages in the Vignettes From Gay Life series (links here), a final set: “Seven more vignettes” (9-12, but missing 11, and 17-20), here; vignettes 13-16 and 21-24, here; and the final dozen (29-40), here.

Like the earlier batches, these are not for the kiddies or the easily offended. Definitely not safe for work.

 

Posted in Art/lit/music/film, Gayland, Gender and sexuality | Leave a Comment »

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