otoh

For those of us that like words (which, presumably, includes those of us that read and write blogs) a cool site to check out is Word Spy.

The description from the site is:

This Web site is devoted to lexpionage, the sleuthing of new words and phrases. These aren’t “stunt words” or “sniglets,” but new terms that have appeared multiple times in newspapers, magazines, books, Web sites, and other recorded sources.

I really like that he (Paul McFedries) researches and cites uses of these new terms as they enter our language. The site has grown quite large and includes an alphabetical index, subject categories, links to related words, recent additions, favorites words, and more. This one is for all the cyberscribes out there!

Since I’ve had poetry in mind the last couple days, I did a quick search and ran across this:

Haiku in English:
it’s cute when children do it;
stupid for grown-ups.

What i was really looking for though was my favorite limerick. I found several variations on it, but not who wrote it:

There once was a man from Japan
Whose limericks never would scan
When asked why it was
He answered because
I always try to fit everything into the last line that I possibly can.

While trying to find the poet to blame for that one I ran across these in a similar vein that are new to me:

This limerick’s too clever, I fear
And refers to itself (as you’ll hear)
With words twenty-nine
I’ve checked ‘em, it’s fine
But it means the last word isn’t

and

There once was a man from Peru
Whose limericks would end on line two

Just for grins, since I managed to post only CLEAN limericks, I’ll end with this little bit of slightly shady verse. I regret I don’t know who wrote this one either:

She offered her honor
He honored her offer
And all night long
He was on her and off her

Last month I joined a group of local Tai Chi enthusiasts that I met through a MeetUp group. One of the forum topics on their message board is haiku about Tai Chi. I find it a bit odd to use a Japanese for of poetry for a Chinese form of martial arts. But what the heck. So far I’ve come up with these two:

Balance, young one. Breathe.
Yin/Yang are not separate,
neither IS alone.

Cool breezes turn cold
How does one defend oneself?
Push hands… in pockets.

Not really, of course, but this old quip of mine came to mind for two reasons: I find that some of the blogs I run across are very revealing (sometimes WAY too much information) and I realize that I don’t write the same way here as I do in a journal that I think no one will read. I know that this blog is not read by many people (well, not yet, but after I get really famous….), but knowing that someone could read it inhibits me a little.

Tim is not really short [and no Tiny Tim jokes, you know who you are]. Besides, Tim and date haven’t been that close together for a long time. TIM is really an acronym for Typically Insensitive Male. But it’s not like I’m posting a personal ad here. I’m just shaking out the random thoughts so they’ll stop rattling around in my head for a few minutes.

Sis Boom Bah

The sound of a sheep exploding.

That was my favorite bit from Carnac the Magnificent. I did a quick search and found several other people posted it as their favorite too. At least one claimed it got the longest sustained laugh of any of the Carnac bits….

I was saddened yesterday by the news of the death of Johnny Carson. I may be biased by the era in which I grew up, but no other talk show host comes close in my book. I’m too young to have seen the original airing of Steve Allen or Jack Paar as host, but I have seen clips of both of them. While they deserve credit for pioneering the format, Carson really perfected it.

Q: How many Bush Administration officials does it take to change a light bulb?

A: None. There is nothing wrong with the light bulb; its conditions are improving every day. Any reports of its lack of incandescence are a delusional spin from the liberal media. That light bulb has served honorably, and anything you say undermines the lighting effect. Why do you hate freedom?

Suggested by Jenn, here’s a link to determine your worth: Human for Sale. Their home page states:

Have you been thinking about putting yourself up for sale lately? Ever wonder how much money you could get on the open human market? HumanForSale.com will attempt to place a value on your life using a variety of criteria in 4 basic facets of life (physical,mental,lifestyle,personality). This is obviously a very subjective matter and is not intended and does not claim to be scientifically accurate. The more honestly you answer the questions, the more realistic the dollar value returned will be.

I think we can safely take the “realistic” dollar value with a great big grain of salt and tongue firmly in cheek. I went through the questions twice. When I left several answers blank I got a value of $1,817,052.00. Leaving just a couple answers blank (I honestly have no recollection of what my SAT score was) I got a value of $2,088,270.00. Just for kicks, I submitted the form without answering ANY questions and got a value of $610,000.00! Suddenly, I feel so cheap….

For a couple other perspectives on the value of your body, take a look at http://home.nycap.rr.com/useless/sell_your_body/index.html ($4.50 — $3.50 of that is for skin!) and http://www.soundmedicine.iu.edu/archive/2003/quiz/humanWorth.html (over $45 million).

I recently finished reading A Salty Piece of Land by Jimmy Buffett. It’s appeal is no doubt primarily to Parrotheads, his legions of devoted fans of his music. His books are typically as escapist as most of his songs, with a smattering of laid back philosophy thrown in for good measure.

I did enjoy this book, but it meanders quite a bit. His characters float in and out of each other’s lives and he ties things up neatly at the end. But I think he did that better in his Tales from Margaritaville.

Why do we laugh? I know there has been some scientific research on this question. If I get ambitious, I’ll research a bit and post some links. But here’s a guess: We laugh because we cry.

I see a lot of support for what I would call Taoist philosophy. Life requires balance of opposites. Day/night, light/dark, male/female, happy/sad, yang/yin. As we evolved and formed more complex social relationships, we were able to develop more complex emotional extremes.

I don’t know exactly where to draw the lines of complexity or sentience. I can’t imagine an insect laughing or crying. But I have seen my dogs play just for fun. They may not be able to laugh, but they certainly seem to have the capacity for joy and sorrow. Presumably then, there is a continuum of complexity with a corresponding continuum of emotion.

Why did we develop these emotions? Well, that is another question for another day.

Here’s an interesting twist on blogging. Each day an excerpt from the Journal of Henry David Thoreau is posted at http://blogthoreau.blogspot.com/.

If Thoreau were alive today, would he be blogging? Would he associate with the Walden Woods Project? Would he approve of the marketing done in his name?

What about some of the other journals we now treat as literature? I recently quoted from Anne Frank’s diary. Would she be able to blog from her hiding place? And if she could, would she? My guess is that it would be far too dangerous to accidentally let slip some detail that would lead to their discovery.

Would St. Augustine blog? Rainer Maria Rilke? St. Paul? Edgar Allen Poe? And if any of them did, would it change the nature or content of what they wrote?