Tuesday, May 02, 2006

it's one of those days where even though i'm working nonstop, it's not taxing my brain very.... at all. so my brain entertains itself quietly, then eagerly taps me on the shoulder and says "Google 'Fear and Apathy,' and see what it's all about!!" and I comply before thinking, "Wait--what?"

Googling reminds me of two things. One is on some Austin web-forum, a girl asked where one could go to get cheap eye exams in Austin, and the first response was some guy who linked to his Google search of "cheap eye exams Austin" with no other commentary. She wrote back "Um, thanks. I know how to Google." And I just found it very funny. Was the guy's comment hostile, or just clueless?

And second, after years and years, I'm pretty comfortable using "Google" as a verb. I don't know what it is about slang and neologisms I hate so much. Maybe if I were actually a word historian, it would be interesting to see the language in action. But generally I'm put off by the kids today (and yesterday) and their hip speak. I find some phrases moderately interesting, and sometimes funny ("snakes on a plane" finally struck me as hilarious last week). But there's nothing I hate more than apocope, because it's overly-hip AND uncreative. It makes me think of an old SNL-skit for an informercial that would help you shave "literally SECONDS" off the time it takes you to talk by teaching you simple abbreviations (Example phrase "Hey, bud. How's the weath?").

Okay, back to work. Fantastic!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Heya so I had to look up apocope even though you explained it through examples. Then of course I looked up the Wikipedia list. I am fairly happy to learn for the first time that taxicab is short for taximeter cabriolet. But I am mad that someone posted "orang" as short for "orangutan" and "bronto" as short for "brontosaur(us)." Like, for real?

Anonymous said...

Yeah, apocos bug me too...

Carrie said...

woah, blogger didn't tell me these were here!

yeah, i should have linked apocope to something. when i read that word, i was delighted that now the thing i hated had a name, and i could curse it!! i feel like i saw 'orang' written somewhere recently and thought "wha' happened?" maybe 'bronto' is what archaeologists in the know call them. archaeologists in the know who don't know those are no longer called brontosauri.

but the word itself does seem begging to have the ending left off. i always want to say apocop', but just one vowel seem insignificant. so apoco it is. then it becomes kind of autological! another good word.