Wordplay: Rock & rule
Wordplay: Lux, with “Onomatomania”
Someone I’ve been reading lately is Georgia Tech’s Thomas Lux – most of us are trying to get closer & closer to getting it right, in so many ways in the things around us. I love the way he explores that, here:
Onomatomania
Thomas Lux
the word for the inability to find the right word,
leads me to self-diagnose: onomatomaniac. It’s not
the 20 volume OED, I need,
nor Dr. Roget’s book, which offers
equals only, never discovery.
I accept the fallibility of language,
its spastic elasticity,
its jake-leg, as well as prima ballerina, dances.
I accept that language
can be manipulated towards deceit
(ex.: The Mahatmapropaganda, i.e., Goebbels);
I accept, and mourn, though not a lot,
the loss of the dash/semi-colon pair.
It’s the sound of a pause unlike no other pause.
And when the words are tedious
and tedious also their order–sew me up
in a rug and toss me in the sea!
Language is dying, the novel is dying, poetry
is a corpse colder than the Ice Man,
they’ve all been dying for thousands of years,
yet people still write, people still read,
and everyone knows that nothing is really real
until it is written.
Until it is written!
Even those who cannot read
know that.
Copyright © 2014 by Thomas Lux.
Wordplay: And here’s to you, Joltin’ Joe….
I believe the takeaway on this little story is simple: Always tell the troof.
A man walks into a bar with a dog.
The bartender says, “You can’t bring that dog in here.”
“You don’t understand,” says the man. “This is no regular dog, he can talk.”
“Listen, pal,” says the bartender. “If that dog can talk, I’ll give you 100 bucks.”
The man puts the dog on a stool, and asks him, “What’s on top of a house?” “Roof!”
“Right. And what’s on the outside of a tree?” “Bark!”
“And who’s the greatest baseball player of all time?” “Ruth!”
“I guess you’ve heard enough,” says the man. “I’ll take the 100 in 20s.”
The bartender is furious. “Listen, pal,” he says, “get out of here before I belt you.”
As soon as they’re on the street, the dog turns to the man and says, “Do you think I should have said DiMaggio?”
About Brother Ian
Over the centuries, Brother Ian has been collecting stories & information & discourses for the purpose of elevating the human condition as needed, dissecting it when necessary, and building the case for hope.
In the spirit of noting that organized crime, organized baseball, organized labour, and organized religion tend to engender controversy & occasional discord, I promise to be neither organized or critical of those who are.