Vagueness and the Aftermath - A sporadic diary

[Tal]

I laugh at the arguments over the correct way to use the language, when it's the evolution of language that keeps it alive, and relevant. I wonder if they'd had the internet back when Shakespear (or whoever really wrote his stuff) was creating, there'd have been threads debating his incorrect use of "seen better days" or "full circle" - they'd have called it "a sorry sight" but that was another phrase they'd have been slagging off.

I'm not suggesting blonde is as important to the language as Shakespear was, but the odd incongruous turn of phrase doesn't really hurt ;-)

How do you turn a phrase?

I am of course joking. You use a phraseturner. It is a cross between a calculator, a thesaurus and a lathe.

Language is a fundamentally beautiful thing, to be cherished, devoured and have slathered all over us. It moves with the times like art, music, haircuts and waistlines. We evolve both with and through the way we communicate. We use words we heard the day before as though we have known them all our life (Rangemerging dem pigeons since time, brah, freal). And so we should.

Of course, we have to use these new-found tools properly, else we run the risk of sounding like a Russian spy.

If we meet, buy me a diet coke and I'll talk to you forever about this stuff, including why Shakespeare - and it was Shakespeare - was so utterly and gloriously wonderful.

Moustache. TTFN.

Ohhh Tal!
There I was, preparing a post to answer Tikay on one of my favourite subjects, when I get theWarning, while you were typing a new reply has been posted message.
Had a quick look and deleted my reply.
You said just about everything I wanted to say but so much better

P.S. I think I love you

Sorry to jump what I am sure was your euphemistically stupendous gun.

Ben Jonson (one of my absolute favourite writers, in spite of his drug taking to win the Olympic 100m final, some 350-odd years after his death) said "Language most shews a man: Speak, that I may see thee."

I like to think when I post on Blonde, it might be eloquent, it might be cantankerous, it might be twelve and a half kinds of botty gravy, but that it is unmistakably Tal

Drink to me only with thine eyes,
And I will pledge with mine;
Or leave a kiss but in the cup
And I'll not look for wine

[tikay]

I laugh at the arguments over the correct way to use the language, when it's the evolution of language that keeps it alive, and relevant. I wonder if they'd had the internet back when Shakespear (or whoever really wrote his stuff) was creating, there'd have been threads debating his incorrect use of "seen better days" or "full circle" - they'd have called it "a sorry sight" but that was another phrase they'd have been slagging off.

I'm not suggesting blonde is as important to the language as Shakespear was, but the odd incongruous turn of phrase doesn't really hurt ;-)

How do you turn a phrase?

I am of course joking. You use a phraseturner. It is a cross between a calculator, a thesaurus and a lathe.

Language is a fundamentally beautiful thing, to be cherished, devoured and have slathered all over us. It moves with the times like art, music, haircuts and waistlines. We evolve both with and through the way we communicate. We use words we heard the day before as though we have known them all our life (Rangemerging dem pigeons since time, brah, freal). And so we should.

Of course, we have to use these new-found tools properly, else we run the risk of sounding like a Russian spy.

If we meet, buy me a diet coke and I'll talk to you forever about this stuff, including why Shakespeare - and it was Shakespeare - was so utterly and gloriously wonderful.

Moustache. TTFN.

I feel as if I have been violated.

Tal is a man who I admire muchly, and his writing thrills me. The Post above was a contender for Post of the Year ( it won Post of the Month without opposition, we are not worthy, da de da), and my loins were in a state of girdleness not experienced for many a moon.

And then.......and then it happened. He betrayed me. Badly, so badly it hurt.

Shakespeare? SHAKESPEARE?

Am glad this is not my Diary. Arty bollox, no thank you.

You have been moved down, in my estimation, two grades. Degraded Tal it is.

[Redsgirl]

I laugh at the arguments over the correct way to use the language, when it's the evolution of language that keeps it alive, and relevant. I wonder if they'd had the internet back when Shakespear (or whoever really wrote his stuff) was creating, there'd have been threads debating his incorrect use of "seen better days" or "full circle" - they'd have called it "a sorry sight" but that was another phrase they'd have been slagging off.

I'm not suggesting blonde is as important to the language as Shakespear was, but the odd incongruous turn of phrase doesn't really hurt ;-)

Fair comment. Ish.

The world relies on the correct use of wordage, as practised by myself, of course, to save it from a lexiconic hell.  

More seriously.....I do actually find it extremely interesting how it evolves though.

Have you noticed - I only see it on poker fora, but it may well be have spread to the real world - how the meaning of words change? Nothing wrong with that, but us old-timers find it hard to adapt, don't we?

"Friend" has been completely changed, &, imo, devalued. By my definition, a "Facebook Friend" is nothing like a friend, it is an online acquaintance at best, in most cases. Tick that box, simple, job done, "we are now Friends". Sod that.

"Heroes" & "legends" ditto ditto. By correct definition, both are exceedingly rare, but a DTD Final Table can contain half a dozen of each.

All very discomfiting, or it is to me.  

Going back to "most unique", "Unique" is a lovely word, but now bastardised. In my line of work, we use it all day every day, to describe how many different players are on site each day - UPD (Uniques Per Day) - or how much they spend per day - MPU (Margin Per Unique). 

What were the uniques like yesterday? is the first question each morning. And the bigger the number, the better. So in Online Poker business-speak, the more uniques the better.

Yup, 20,000 uniques yesterday.

We are all, it seems, either unique, or a unique.

Tal got another post in before me, but now I have recovered from the swoon his latest effort induced, I'll get back to the question I was going to ask Tikay,
 What word would you use 'all day every day' if you made a stand and stopped using unique?
The point being if its used frequently, by eveyone then it must now be the best word for the job.

[tikay]

I laugh at the arguments over the correct way to use the language, when it's the evolution of language that keeps it alive, and relevant. I wonder if they'd had the internet back when Shakespear (or whoever really wrote his stuff) was creating, there'd have been threads debating his incorrect use of "seen better days" or "full circle" - they'd have called it "a sorry sight" but that was another phrase they'd have been slagging off.

I'm not suggesting blonde is as important to the language as Shakespear was, but the odd incongruous turn of phrase doesn't really hurt ;-)

How do you turn a phrase?

I am of course joking. You use a phraseturner. It is a cross between a calculator, a thesaurus and a lathe.

Language is a fundamentally beautiful thing, to be cherished, devoured and have slathered all over us. It moves with the times like art, music, haircuts and waistlines. We evolve both with and through the way we communicate. We use words we heard the day before as though we have known them all our life (Rangemerging dem pigeons since time, brah, freal). And so we should.

Of course, we have to use these new-found tools properly, else we run the risk of sounding like a Russian spy.

If we meet, buy me a diet coke and I'll talk to you forever about this stuff, including why Shakespeare - and it was Shakespeare - was so utterly and gloriously wonderful.

Moustache. TTFN.

Ohhh Tal!
There I was, preparing a post to answer Tikay on one of my favourite subjects, when I get theWarning, while you were typing a new reply has been posted message.
Had a quick look and deleted my reply.
You said just about everything I wanted to say but so much better

P.S. I think I love you

Sorry to jump what I am sure was your euphemistically stupendous gun.

Ben Jonson (one of my absolute favourite writers, in spite of his drug taking to win the Olympic 100m final, some 350-odd years after his death) said "Language most shews a man: Speak, that I may see thee."

I like to think when I post on Blonde, it might be eloquent, it might be cantankerous, it might be twelve and a half kinds of botty gravy, but that it is unmistakably Tal

Drink to me only with thine eyes,
And I will pledge with mine;
Or leave a kiss but in the cup
And I'll not look for wine

What does that even mean?

Poetry gets right on my tits.

[tikay]

I laugh at the arguments over the correct way to use the language, when it's the evolution of language that keeps it alive, and relevant. I wonder if they'd had the internet back when Shakespear (or whoever really wrote his stuff) was creating, there'd have been threads debating his incorrect use of "seen better days" or "full circle" - they'd have called it "a sorry sight" but that was another phrase they'd have been slagging off.

I'm not suggesting blonde is as important to the language as Shakespear was, but the odd incongruous turn of phrase doesn't really hurt ;-)

Fair comment. Ish.

The world relies on the correct use of wordage, as practised by myself, of course, to save it from a lexiconic hell.  

More seriously.....I do actually find it extremely interesting how it evolves though.

Have you noticed - I only see it on poker fora, but it may well be have spread to the real world - how the meaning of words change? Nothing wrong with that, but us old-timers find it hard to adapt, don't we?

"Friend" has been completely changed, &, imo, devalued. By my definition, a "Facebook Friend" is nothing like a friend, it is an online acquaintance at best, in most cases. Tick that box, simple, job done, "we are now Friends". Sod that.

"Heroes" & "legends" ditto ditto. By correct definition, both are exceedingly rare, but a DTD Final Table can contain half a dozen of each.

All very discomfiting, or it is to me.  

Going back to "most unique", "Unique" is a lovely word, but now bastardised. In my line of work, we use it all day every day, to describe how many different players are on site each day - UPD (Uniques Per Day) - or how much they spend per day - MPU (Margin Per Unique).  

What were the uniques like yesterday? is the first question each morning. And the bigger the number, the better. So in Online Poker business-speak, the more uniques the better.

Yup, 20,000 uniques yesterday.

We are all, it seems, either unique, or a unique.

Tal got another post in before me, but now I have recovered from the swoon his latest effort induced, I'll get back to the question I was going to ask Tikay,
 What word would you use 'all day every day' if you made a stand and stopped using unique?
The point being if its used frequently, by eveyone then it must now be the best word for the job.

Individuals.

Individuals are not special as such. Unique is special.

Tal is an individual.

Robbie Williams is unique.

Drift duly got?

[Tal]

I laugh at the arguments over the correct way to use the language, when it's the evolution of language that keeps it alive, and relevant. I wonder if they'd had the internet back when Shakespear (or whoever really wrote his stuff) was creating, there'd have been threads debating his incorrect use of "seen better days" or "full circle" - they'd have called it "a sorry sight" but that was another phrase they'd have been slagging off.

I'm not suggesting blonde is as important to the language as Shakespear was, but the odd incongruous turn of phrase doesn't really hurt ;-)

How do you turn a phrase?

I am of course joking. You use a phraseturner. It is a cross between a calculator, a thesaurus and a lathe.

Language is a fundamentally beautiful thing, to be cherished, devoured and have slathered all over us. It moves with the times like art, music, haircuts and waistlines. We evolve both with and through the way we communicate. We use words we heard the day before as though we have known them all our life (Rangemerging dem pigeons since time, brah, freal). And so we should.

Of course, we have to use these new-found tools properly, else we run the risk of sounding like a Russian spy.

If we meet, buy me a diet coke and I'll talk to you forever about this stuff, including why Shakespeare - and it was Shakespeare - was so utterly and gloriously wonderful.

Moustache. TTFN.

Ohhh Tal!
There I was, preparing a post to answer Tikay on one of my favourite subjects, when I get theWarning, while you were typing a new reply has been posted message.
Had a quick look and deleted my reply.
You said just about everything I wanted to say but so much better

P.S. I think I love you

Sorry to jump what I am sure was your euphemistically stupendous gun.

Ben Jonson (one of my absolute favourite writers, in spite of his drug taking to win the Olympic 100m final, some 350-odd years after his death) said "Language most shews a man: Speak, that I may see thee."

I like to think when I post on Blonde, it might be eloquent, it might be cantankerous, it might be twelve and a half kinds of botty gravy, but that it is unmistakably Tal

Drink to me only with thine eyes,
And I will pledge with mine;
Or leave a kiss but in the cup
And I'll not look for wine

What does that even mean?

Poetry gets right on my tits.

Oh yeah?

YEAH?

Well...well..well tits get right on my...poetry!

 

[Tal]

Here's a basic summary of what Song to Celia is about:

http://www.shmoop.com/to-celia/summary.html

Johnny Cash sang it:

[Redsgirl]

I laugh at the arguments over the correct way to use the language, when it's the evolution of language that keeps it alive, and relevant. I wonder if they'd had the internet back when Shakespear (or whoever really wrote his stuff) was creating, there'd have been threads debating his incorrect use of "seen better days" or "full circle" - they'd have called it "a sorry sight" but that was another phrase they'd have been slagging off.

I'm not suggesting blonde is as important to the language as Shakespear was, but the odd incongruous turn of phrase doesn't really hurt ;-)

Fair comment. Ish.

The world relies on the correct use of wordage, as practised by myself, of course, to save it from a lexiconic hell.  

More seriously.....I do actually find it extremely interesting how it evolves though.

Have you noticed - I only see it on poker fora, but it may well be have spread to the real world - how the meaning of words change? Nothing wrong with that, but us old-timers find it hard to adapt, don't we?

"Friend" has been completely changed, &, imo, devalued. By my definition, a "Facebook Friend" is nothing like a friend, it is an online acquaintance at best, in most cases. Tick that box, simple, job done, "we are now Friends". Sod that.

"Heroes" & "legends" ditto ditto. By correct definition, both are exceedingly rare, but a DTD Final Table can contain half a dozen of each.

All very discomfiting, or it is to me.  

Going back to "most unique", "Unique" is a lovely word, but now bastardised. In my line of work, we use it all day every day, to describe how many different players are on site each day - UPD (Uniques Per Day) - or how much they spend per day - MPU (Margin Per Unique).  

What were the uniques like yesterday? is the first question each morning. And the bigger the number, the better. So in Online Poker business-speak, the more uniques the better.

Yup, 20,000 uniques yesterday.

We are all, it seems, either unique, or a unique.

Tal got another post in before me, but now I have recovered from the swoon his latest effort induced, I'll get back to the question I was going to ask Tikay,
 What word would you use 'all day every day' if you made a stand and stopped using unique?
The point being if its used frequently, by eveyone then it must now be the best word for the job.

Individuals.

Individuals are not special as such. Unique is special.

Tal is an individual.

Robbie Williams is unique.

Drift duly got?

Drift got.
I must say, you do a great job of pretending to be a miserable old so and so!

[Tal]

When it comes to literature, I'm very much a fiction man. I know that grates on Tikay, so I respectfully yield.

Jacobean plays and poetry are by far my faves. Love it.

I'm proper cultured, me.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to Hall Green dogs.

#eveneloquentdegensgottadegen

[kinboshi]

I laugh at the arguments over the correct way to use the language, when it's the evolution of language that keeps it alive, and relevant. I wonder if they'd had the internet back when Shakespear (or whoever really wrote his stuff) was creating, there'd have been threads debating his incorrect use of "seen better days" or "full circle" - they'd have called it "a sorry sight" but that was another phrase they'd have been slagging off.

I'm not suggesting blonde is as important to the language as Shakespear was, but the odd incongruous turn of phrase doesn't really hurt ;-)

Fair comment. Ish.

The world relies on the correct use of wordage, as practised by myself, of course, to save it from a lexiconic hell. 

More seriously.....I do actually find it extremely interesting how it evolves though.

Have you noticed - I only see it on poker fora, but it may well be have spread to the real world - how the meaning of words change? Nothing wrong with that, but us old-timers find it hard to adapt, don't we?

"Friend" has been completely changed, &, imo, devalued. By my definition, a "Facebook Friend" is nothing like a friend, it is an online acquaintance at best, in most cases. Tick that box, simple, job done, "we are now Friends". Sod that.

"Heroes" & "legends" ditto ditto. By correct definition, both are exceedingly rare, but a DTD Final Table can contain half a dozen of each.

All very discomfiting, or it is to me. 

Going back to "most unique", "Unique" is a lovely word, but now bastardised. In my line of work, we use it all day every day, to describe how many different players are on site each day - UPD (Uniques Per Day) - or how much they spend per day - MPU (Margin Per Unique). 

What were the uniques like yesterday? is the first question each morning. And the bigger the number, the better. So in Online Poker business-speak, the more uniques the better.

Yup, 20,000 uniques yesterday.

We are all, it seems, either unique, or a unique.

Tal got another post in before me, but now I have recovered from the swoon his latest effort induced, I'll get back to the question I was going to ask Tikay,
 What word would you use 'all day every day' if you made a stand and stopped using unique?
The point being if its used frequently, by eveyone then it must now be the best word for the job.

Individuals.

Individuals are not special as such. Unique is special.

Tal is an individual.

Robbie Williams is unique.

Drift duly got?

I'm with the cantankerous sod on this one.  Unique has been abused in this context, and individual is a better description of the visitors - rather than unique. 

Then he goes and ruins it by comparing the peerless Tal unfavourably to the egomaniac that is Robbie Williams

Anyway, amongst his vast works Shakespeare was responsible for the introduction of many words into the English language.  A list of some are here:
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/biography/wordsinvented.html


academe    accused   addiction   advertising   amazement
arouse    assassination   backing   bandit   bedroom
beached    besmirch   birthplace   blanket   bloodstained
barefaced   blushing   bet   bump   buzzer
caked   cater   champion   circumstantial   cold-blooded
compromise   courtship   countless   critic   dauntless
dawn   deafening   discontent   dishearten   drugged
dwindle   epileptic   equivocal   elbow   excitement
exposure   eyeball   fashionable   fixture   flawed
frugal   generous   gloomy   gossip   green-eyed
gust   hint   hobnob   hurried   impede
impartial   invulnerable   jaded   label   lackluster
laughable   lonely   lower   luggage   lustrous
madcap   majestic   marketable   metamorphize   mimic
monumental   moonbeam   mountaineer   negotiate   noiseless
obscene   obsequiously   ode   olympian   outbreak
panders   pedant   premeditated   puking   radiance
rant   remorseless   savagery   scuffle   secure
skim milk   submerge   summit   swagger   torture
tranquil   undress   unreal   varied   vaulting
worthless   zany   gnarled   grovel

[Rod Paradise]

Wow. Fantastic, I'm so jealous.

Both you & Tom ought to take note of this (below) too - it's wonderful.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22277084

Meant to respond to this earlier, the headline of "Attenborough to launch Tweet Of The Day on Radio 4" had me dreading another octogenarian grumpy codger moaning about the internet..... but the actual show could be good.

However even birds are changing their language in these modern times. I'd read about it but last week when picking up my girlfriend from Hamilton (near the Asda car park) I was amazed by a starling whose call was that of a car alarm. I now wonder if there was a bird (maybe a Pied WagTal) telling it off for its modern speech patterns.......

[RED-DOG]

Wow. Fantastic, I'm so jealous.

Both you & Tom ought to take note of this (below) too - it's wonderful.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22277084

Meant to respond to this earlier, the headline of "Attenborough to launch Tweet Of The Day on Radio 4" had me dreading another octogenarian grumpy codger moaning about the internet..... but the actual show could be good.

However even birds are changing their language in these modern times. I'd read about it but last week when picking up my girlfriend from Hamilton (near the Asda car park) I was amazed by a starling whose call was that of a car alarm. I now wonder if there was a bird (maybe a Pied WagTal) telling it off for its modern speech patterns.......

Blatant 'I have a girlfriend' brag post.

[tikay]

Wow. Fantastic, I'm so jealous.

Both you & Tom ought to take note of this (below) too - it's wonderful.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22277084

Meant to respond to this earlier, the headline of "Attenborough to launch Tweet Of The Day on Radio 4" had me dreading another octogenarian grumpy codger moaning about the internet..... but the actual show could be good.

However even birds are changing their language in these modern times. I'd read about it but last week when picking up my girlfriend from Hamilton (near the Asda car park) I was amazed by a starling whose call was that of a car alarm. I now wonder if there was a bird (maybe a Pied WagTal) telling it off for its modern speech patterns.......

VERY good. Pied wagTAL.

Err, "like". (Internet speak again).

By the bye, that post you wrote about your avian visiters this afternoon was wonderful. I don't get to see (or perhaps recognize) such an array of species, but even now, if I see a heron, a buzzard, a kestrel, a cormorant, a red kite, it absolutely thrills me to bits & makes my day.

I have a resifdent blackbird in my garden, & he starts singing in the moirning, then spends all day ground hopping at low level, chasing away territorial invaders, fetching twigs & stuff. A perfect pleasure.

[tikay]

Wow. Fantastic, I'm so jealous.

Both you & Tom ought to take note of this (below) too - it's wonderful.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22277084

Meant to respond to this earlier, the headline of "Attenborough to launch Tweet Of The Day on Radio 4" had me dreading another octogenarian grumpy codger moaning about the internet..... but the actual show could be good.

However even birds are changing their language in these modern times. I'd read about it but last week when picking up my girlfriend from Hamilton (near the Asda car park) I was amazed by a starling whose call was that of a car alarm. I now wonder if there was a bird (maybe a Pied WagTal) telling it off for its modern speech patterns.......

I can't decide if that is the cleverest title ever, or the daftest, most misleading.

Brilliant idea though. I never knew the UK was home to so many bird species. I doubt I could name a dozen without the aid of Mr Google.

[Rod Paradise]

Wow. Fantastic, I'm so jealous.

Both you & Tom ought to take note of this (below) too - it's wonderful.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22277084

Meant to respond to this earlier, the headline of "Attenborough to launch Tweet Of The Day on Radio 4" had me dreading another octogenarian grumpy codger moaning about the internet..... but the actual show could be good.

However even birds are changing their language in these modern times. I'd read about it but last week when picking up my girlfriend from Hamilton (near the Asda car park) I was amazed by a starling whose call was that of a car alarm. I now wonder if there was a bird (maybe a Pied WagTal) telling it off for its modern speech patterns.......

Blatant 'I have a girlfriend' brag post.

Nah, did that a while back, although the future Mrs Paradise is worth bragging about