Archive for August, 2019
August 25, 2019
Exhibit A: the joke routine That’s Good / That’s Bad from an Archie Campbell comedy sketch — discussed in my 7/22/19 posting “Oh that’s good”.
Exhibit B: the principles that predict when a N + N compound in English has primary accent on the first (modifier) N (front stress, or forestress) and when that accent falls on the second (head) N (back stress, or afterstress) — discussed in my old paper “Forestress and afterstress”, (OSU Working Papers in Linguistics, 1986, viewable on-line here).
From a sufficiently abstract point of view, these two phenomena can be seen to be manifestations of a single scheme, which I’ll refer to as exception-triggered alternation.
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Posted in Accent, Compounds, Homosexuality, Jokes, Opposition, Phonology | Leave a Comment »
August 24, 2019
Palo Alto’s Gamble Garden last Saturday morning (the 17th), during motss.con XXXII. Eight of us prowled over the northern part of the garden, appreciating all sorts of botanical delights and surprises, densely compressed into a very small space. (On a separate visit, motss.conners Robert Coren and John Gintell managed not to notice a huge topiary rabbit; well, there was just so much else to look at.)
And now, a report on random selected moments from our visit.
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Posted in Homosexuality, Language and food, Language and plants, My life | 1 Comment »
August 23, 2019
(Penguins and art, no linguistic content to speak of.)
On the Plain of Teak at Ramona St., the presiding penguin, La Púrpura, greets the newest resident, Pingüino Gaudí:
(#1)
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Posted in Art, My life, Penguins, Rainbow | 1 Comment »
August 22, 2019
(Warning: consider the subject; penises will be under discussion, so some will want to skip this posting.)
I’ll start with the logo of Herb’s Plumbing & Heating, 2562 Noble Rd., Cleveland OH:
(#1) Brawny man, a plumber, with a big wrench — the symbol of his trade, also (like wrenches in general) a phallic symbol, intensifying the masculinity of the image
This is garden-variety phallicity. But on Herb’s trucks, we get something more substantial: a phallic simulacrum, a representation of a penis (which is, however, also symbolically a wrench):
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Posted in Art, Gay porn, Gender and sexuality, Language of sex, Logos, Mascots, Masculinity, Movies and tv, Phallicity | Leave a Comment »
August 22, 2019
Specifically “pinksalt floyd rocks” Sexy Dark Swiss. Oh, it’s chocolate and it’s really trendy, because it’s prebiotic, and it’s whimsical too (the name Gutsii playing on gutsy and alluding to the gut, the playful allusion to the rock band Pink Floyd), plus it parades itself as dark and sexy, like a forbidden lover who steals into your bed in the dark of night. It came to me from the snack drawer at LiveJournal, brought by Kim Darnell, who works there.
From the Food Navigator site, the piece “Prebiotic chocolate? Gutsii enters US market on a mission to make gut health simple” by Mary Ellen Shoup on 2/11/19:
(#1)
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Posted in Language and food, Language and medicine, Language and plants, Language play, Metaphor, Semantics of compounds, Switzerland and Swiss things | Leave a Comment »
August 21, 2019
The people of the lgbt+ net community soc.motss / soc-motss — well, a small sampling of 28 of them — gathered here from Thursday (the 15th) through Monday (the 19th) to enjoy the pleasure of each other’s company and the touristic delights of the area. I was able to take part in the three general events, all food-oriented: a welcoming event Friday evening, a picnic in Palo Alto’s Rinconada Park; a dim sum brunch on Sunday at the restaurant Tai Pan in downtown Palo Alto; and a stragglers’ breakfast Monday morning at the Peninsula Creamery, also in downtown Palo Alto. Plus two lunches with motss-conners, a Saturday visit to the Gamble Garden in Palo Alto (which I’ll post about separately), and several visits to my house from motss-conners.
(I had to bow out of the foodie dinner on Thursday, at the elegant Greek restaurant Evvia in downtown Palo Alto.)
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Posted in Homosexuality, Language and food | 2 Comments »
August 20, 2019
(Consider the title as a content warning.)
Widely reported: Chace Crawford’s monumental moose-knuckle in the calendar for the new tv series The Boys:
(#1) Dick and the Dolphins
From Yahoo! entertainment, “Chace Crawford’s superhero suit in ‘The Boys’ calendar has eyeballs popping: ‘This cannot be real, can it?'” by Suzy Byrne on 8/16/19:
Chace Crawford’s new role in The Boys has him giving fans an eyeful.
A promotional calendar for the Amazon Prime show was sent out to the press this week and March has sent the internet into a tizzy. Crawford, who plays Kevin/The Deep, is in his very tight superhero suit and it didn’t go unnoticed.
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Posted in Gender and sexuality, Masculinity, Movies and tv, Phallicity | 2 Comments »
August 20, 2019
From Jeff Shaumeyer on Facebook on the 18th:
(#1)
We were a little surprised to notice that the logo for the Hotel Amadeus is a portrait of George Washington. Rome, Italy. 20171028
I replied:
Ah, that’s George Amadeus Washington, an Italian con man who made a career of passing himself off as the Father of the U.S.A. and, incidentally, the composer of The Magic Flute.
Jeff:
That’s good to know! My knowledge of history is so spotty.
And then Rod Williams in high mischief mode:
Didn’t he write that opera, Il ciliegio bugiardo?
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Posted in Music, Names, Parody, Silliness | 2 Comments »
August 18, 2019
Saturday’s Zippy takes us to southeastern Pennsylvania, the land of my childhood:
(#1)
Not in escrow, but in Hellam Township, in York County PA. Specifically, in the Haines Shoe House. Which is a house in the form of a shoe (rather than a shop that sells shoes, or a storage place for shoes, or …).
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Posted in Architecture, Art, Compounds, Language play, Linguistics in the comics, Metaphor, Puns, Semantics, Semantics of compounds | Leave a Comment »
