The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
In the New Yorker...
Front-Ranger:
Gee, I have homely phrases (homilies?) aplenty but no one wants to interview me! One I have started using lately is "up the yin yang" and I can't seem to quit myself of it.
I have tried to not verbize nouns and hold back the tide. Was thinking that one of the earliest instances of verbizing was when Richard Harris sang "Don't let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for happy-ever-aftering, here in Camelot." Anyone recall an earlier example?
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on October 10, 2012, 10:57:19 pm ---When you say "homely," which definition do you mean? I think, arguably, it's both.
home·ly/ˈhōmlē/
Adjective:
(of a person) Unattractive in appearance.
(of a place or surroundings) Simple but cozy and comfortable, as in one's own home.
--- End quote ---
I don't find it unattractive, just very old-fashioned and surprising in an Englishwoman (she lives in Scotland now but she was raised in the West of England, near Bristol) who is younger than I am.
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on October 11, 2012, 07:52:23 am ---Gee, I have homely phrases (homilies?) aplenty but no one wants to interview me! One I have started using lately is "up the yin yang" and I can't seem to quit myself of it.
--- End quote ---
Try harder. Maybe put a dollar in a coffee can or something every time you use it. That phrase isn't homely; yin-yang is just a euphemism for anus.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on October 11, 2012, 07:52:23 am ---I have tried to not verbize nouns and hold back the tide. Was thinking that one of the earliest instances of verbizing was when Richard Harris sang "Don't let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for happy-ever-aftering, here in Camelot." Anyone recall an earlier example?
--- End quote ---
I don't know any offhand, but I'd be surprised if earlier word-playing songwriters like Cole Porter hadn't verbized.
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on October 11, 2012, 09:13:32 am ---I don't find it unattractive, just very old-fashioned and surprising in an Englishwoman (she lives in Scotland now but she was raised in the West of England, near Bristol) who is younger than I am.
--- End quote ---
Those Brits have all kinds of homely sayings. I work with a man who's my age but British, and he spouts lots of funny ones.
One thing he says a lot is "a shed load," to indicate mass quantities. I've often wondered if he's actually unintentionally misusing a cruder Americanism that he misheard.
--- Quote ---Try harder. Maybe put a dollar in a coffee can or something every time you use it. That phrase isn't homely; yin-yang is just a euphemism for anus.
--- End quote ---
You can't judge a homely euphemism entirely by what it's euphemizing; "Jiminy Cricket" and "dad blast it" are pretty homely.
Front-Ranger:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on October 11, 2012, 07:29:27 pm ---
One thing he says a lot is "a shed load," to indicate mass quantities. I've often wondered if he's actually unintentionally misusing a cruder Americanism that he misheard.
--- End quote ---
This reminds me of the scene where Meryl Streep in her Academy Award winning role in Sophie's Choice admired Kevin Kline's "cocksucker" (instead of seersucker) suit.
serious crayons:
I'm about midway through the article on microbes in the Oct. 22 issue. Fascinating! :o :)
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