Went to my library, brought home The Pale King (I couldn't find Infinite Jest). The first 50 pages or so were quite enticing and clear, I like his style but somewhere along the way the chapters become so dense with acronyms, trademarks and cultural references that I simply don't understand what's going on without googling them. (And I've completed books such as Joyce's Ulysses. I've completed Sartor Resartus.) Being non-american, I simply don't have time to google for everything. Is there a way to enjoy DFW without having to use google?
Human social hierarchies are complex, multidimensional, and often ambiguous. Various social interactions can use particular styles of speech (including challenges, scolding, insults, formal accusations, pointed jokes, banter, etc.) to enforce social hierarchy. I am mostly familiar with modern American English; modern and Victorian versions of British English appear to have numerous subtle subtexts related to class hostility.
Social classes in Victorian Britain were clearly complex. Social dominance might be enforced within a class differently than outside a class. For example, an earl might bully a baron using upper-class, aristocratic scolding, that that same earl might bully a Cockney chimney-sweep with very different language and behavior. (Perhaps the earl might be obligated to speak directly to the baron, but might use his entourage or retinue of servants to push the chimney-sweep out of the way so that the earl would not even need to notice the chimney-sweep.)
Conversely, that same chimney-sweep might have specific insults for keeping his male apprentices in line, but those would be different from the verbal scolding he might use to keep his wife in line. Conversely, the chimney-sweep's wife might use particular gendered language to scold the chimney-sweep.
It is possible to read fiction of that era to get a rough idea for what was going on. (The stories of Charles Dickens and A. C. Doyle seem very accessible to me; something like Carlyle's Sartor Resartus seems much more opaque to me.) I can always interpret the fiction to mean something. However, I get the sense that my interpretation of the fiction is not reliable. (For example, if a character says "Heigh-ho" I interpret that to mean he is signaling that his previous speech was a joke. I have no idea whether my interpretation is accurate.) I feel that I would need a textbook to understand how this language was really used. Furthermore, I fear that every fiction writer has a very narrow view of his era. A. C. Doye and Jane Austen were both writing about Britain, but they seem to have been living in different worlds, and I find it hard to synthesize a coherent picture of British verbal dominance from fiction.
I have found few resources. This seems like a problem that is difficult enough to warrant specialized textbooks, but it is probably not a pressing concern, and thus perhaps no one has ever bothered to write a textbook about it. Various experts on the Victorian Era appear to have s
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For context I'm a Refuse Driver (Garbage man) & today I was on food waste. After I'd tipped I was checking the wagon for any defects when I spotted a lone pea balanced on the lifts.
I said "hey look, an escaPEA"
No one near me but it didn't half make me laugh for a good hour or so!
Edit: I can't believe how much this has blown up. Thank you everyone I've had a blast reading through the replies 😂
It really does, I swear!
I'm surprised it hasn't decade.
They’re on standbi
Buenosdillas
Pilot on me!!
Dad jokes are supposed to be jokes you can tell a kid and they will understand it and find it funny.
This sub is mostly just NSFW puns now.
If it needs a NSFW tag it's not a dad joke. There should just be a NSFW puns subreddit for that.
Edit* I'm not replying any longer and turning off notifications but to all those that say "no one cares", there sure are a lot of you arguing about it. Maybe I'm wrong but you people don't need to be rude about it. If you really don't care, don't comment.
When I got home, they were still there.
What did 0 say to 8 ?
" Nice Belt "
So What did 3 say to 8 ?
" Hey, you two stop making out "
I won't be doing that today!
You take away their little brooms
This morning, my 4 year old daughter.
Daughter: I'm hungry
Me: nerves building, smile widening
Me: Hi hungry, I'm dad.
She had no idea what was going on but I finally did it.
Thank you all for listening.
There hasn't been a post all year!
[Removed]
It’s pronounced “Noel.”
After all his first name is No-vac
What, then, is Chinese rap?
Edit:
Notable mentions from the comments:
-
Spanish/Swedish/Swiss/Serbian hits
-
French/Finnish art
-
Country/Canadian rap
-
Chinese/Country/Canadian rock
-
Turkish/Tunisian/Taiwanese rap
There hasn't been a single post this year!
(Happy 2022 from New Zealand)
Nothing, it just waved
Human social hierarchies are complex, multidimensional, and often ambiguous. Various social interactions can use particular styles of speech (including challenges, scolding, insults, formal accusations, pointed jokes, banter, etc.) to enforce social hierarchy. I am mostly familiar with modern American English; modern and Victorian versions of British English appear to have numerous subtle subtexts related to class hostility.
Social classes in Victorian Britain were clearly complex. Social dominance might be enforced within a class differently than outside a class. For example, an earl might bully a baron using upper-class, aristocratic scolding, that that same earl might bully a Cockney chimney-sweep with very different language and behavior. (Perhaps the earl might be obligated to speak directly to the baron, but might use his entourage or retinue of servants to push the chimney-sweep out of the way so that the earl would not even need to notice the chimney-sweep.)
Conversely, that same chimney-sweep might have specific insults for keeping his male apprentices in line, but those would be different from the verbal scolding he might use to keep his wife in line. Conversely, the chimney-sweep's wife might use particular gendered language to scold the chimney-sweep.
It is possible to read fiction of that era to get a rough idea for what was going on. (The stories of Charles Dickens and A. C. Doyle seem very accessible to me; something like Carlyle's Sartor Resartus seems much more opaque to me.) I can always interpret the fiction to mean something. However, I get the sense that my interpretation of the fiction is unreliable. (For example, if a character says "Heigh-ho" I interpret that to mean he is signaling that his previous speech was a joke. I have no idea whether my interpretation is accurate; maybe his meaning was "Ah, well, everything is futile.") I feel that I would need a textbook to understand how this language was really used. Furthermore, I fear that every fiction writer has a very narrow view of his era. A. C. Doye and Jane Austen were both writing about Britain, but they seem to have been living in different worlds, and I find it hard to synthesize a coherent picture of British verbal dominance from fiction.
I have found few resources. This seems like a problem that is difficult enough to warrant specialized textbooks, but it is probably not a pressing concern, and thus perhaps no one has ever bothered to write a textbook about it. V
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