pocky men’s
because you know, as far as pocky goes, i prefer the variety that is specially formulated for my penisness.
is this a marketing thing (like luna bars and the dictionary of the khazars), a case of engrish, or confectionery misogyny?
November 22, 2009
tags
provincial f-words from the 14th century
bros, i started the f-word series as a way of showcasing some choice morsels from specialised dictionaries. i chose words that start with f partly because of my infantile preoccupation with labiodental fricatives but also because enabling limits on my search meant that i would have more free time to hang out with my buddies at applebee’s and talk about witty hollister t-shirts. this system had been going swell until my good friend orson, dropped this onto my desk and my world shattered.
its full title is: a dictionary of arcahic and provincial words, obsolete phrases, proverbs, and ancient customs, from the fourteenth century (1850)—and it is worthy of a 5 part series within a series.
[part the first: FADGY to FELSH]
- FADGY. Corpulent; unwieldy
- FAEGANG. A gang of beggars
- FAFF. To move violently
- FAIR-TRO-DAYS. Daylight
- FAITOUR. An idle lazy fellow; a scoundrel; a flatterer; Hence, a general term of reproach
- FALDORE. A trap-door
- FALLE. A mouse-trap
- FALLINGS. Dropped fruit
- FALLOWFORTH. A waterfall
- FAMBLE. To stutter, or murmur inarticulately
- FANGAST. Fit for marriage, said of a maid
- FANOM-WATER. The acrimonious discharge from the sores of cattle
- FANTICKLES. Freckles
- FARAND. Used in composition for advancing towards, or being ready. Fighting farand: ready for fighting. Farand-man: a traveller or itinerant merchant
- FARREL. The fourth part of a circular oatcake, the division being made by a cross
- FARTHINGS. Flattened peas
- FASGUNTIDE (1) Trouble; care; anxiety; fatigue (2) The tops of turnips
- FASYL. A flaw in cloth
- FEANT. A fool
- FEATLET. Four pounds of butter
- FEELDY. Grassy
- FEER. to run a little way back for the better advantage of leaping forwards
- FELSH. To renovate a hat
October 21, 2009
tags
![not an un-constraint
for those of you that relish in seeing an author squirm under a self-imposed constraint (such as this one), or for those that like a healthy helping of gimmick with their literature, you might enjoy negativeland by doug nufer. from the village voice:
In Nufer’s latest book, Negativeland…every sentence contains a negative—the narrator, Chick, “can’t say yes.” An Olympic swimmer turned spa promoter, Chick lives in a Baudrillardian state of giddy nihilism, making idiotic statements like “He was simply because he was, we weren’t because he was, and we weren’t because we weren’t.” Convinced that “illusion … embraces all,” Chick has a pathologically overblown sense of his own fame. When he visits old friends, he hands out souvenirs—fake medals, earplugs, bathing caps.
Chick is hardly the first protagonist to entertain the suspicion that nothing is real (“everything … a wax museum!”) but he may be the first to have his paranoia cheered on by a steady stream of not’s, dis-’s, un-’s and -n’t’s. The more the health club circuit (which is “more hectic than Hollywood”) absorbs him, the more the negatives fly. He becomes convinced that everything is hollowed-out (“conversation [is] no more than a dialogue”)—an ironic but fitting conclusion to a book in which ideology is merely a by-product of form](http://9.media.tumblr.com/3FZnoU8PUnihdnti4j6pOgg9o1_400.png)
not an un-constraint
for those of you that relish in seeing an author squirm under a self-imposed constraint (such as this one), or for those that like a healthy helping of gimmick with their literature, you might enjoy negativeland by doug nufer. from the village voice:
In Nufer’s latest book, Negativeland…every sentence contains a negative—the narrator, Chick, “can’t say yes.” An Olympic swimmer turned spa promoter, Chick lives in a Baudrillardian state of giddy nihilism, making idiotic statements like “He was simply because he was, we weren’t because he was, and we weren’t because we weren’t.” Convinced that “illusion … embraces all,” Chick has a pathologically overblown sense of his own fame. When he visits old friends, he hands out souvenirs—fake medals, earplugs, bathing caps.
Chick is hardly the first protagonist to entertain the suspicion that nothing is real (“everything … a wax museum!”) but he may be the first to have his paranoia cheered on by a steady stream of not’s, dis-’s, un-’s and -n’t’s. The more the health club circuit (which is “more hectic than Hollywood”) absorbs him, the more the negatives fly. He becomes convinced that everything is hollowed-out (“conversation [is] no more than a dialogue”)—an ironic but fitting conclusion to a book in which ideology is merely a by-product of form
May 15, 2009
tags
a severe constraint
yesterday, i received a very curious volume from a friend who knows how much i relish (1) well designed books, and (2) texts written under an elected constraint. the book is severance by robert olen butler (2006). the book’s jacket says:
After decapitation, the human head is believed to remain in a state of consciousness for one and one-half minutes.
In a heightened state of emotion people speak at the rate of 160 words per minute.
Inspired by the intersection of these two seemingly unrelated concepts, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Olen Butler has written sixty-two stories, each exactly 240 words in length, capturing the flow of thoughts and feelings that rush through a mind after the head has been severed. The characters are both real and imagined - Medusa (beheaded by Perseus, 2000 B.C.), Anne Boleyn (beheaded at the behest of Henry VIII, 1536), a chicken (beheaded for Sunday dinner in Alabama, 1958), and the author himself (decapitated on the job, 2008). These final thoughts are not a morbid or macabre reflection on death; they are a very distilled way of looking back on life and capturing its essence.
here, the author reads some of his stories on all things considered.
April 15, 2009
tags
wordplay with numbers
a chronogram is a sentence or inscription in which specific letters, interpreted as numerals, stand for a particular date when rearranged »
The practice originated in the late Roman Empire and was particularly popular during the Renaissance, when chronograms were often used on tombstones and foundation stones to mark the date of the event being commemorated. For instance:
- My Day Closed Is In Immortality: is a chronogram commemorating the death of Queen Elizabeth I of England. The initials read MDCIII, which corresponds to 1603, the year of Elizabeth’s death.
- Christvs Dux Ergo Trivmphvs (“Christ the Leader, therefore triumphant”), on a coin struck by Gustavus Adolphus in 1627, gives MDCXVVVII or 1627.
- In a work entitled Hugo Grotius his Sophompaneas, the date is indicated by the author’s name: Francis Goldsmith. This adds to 1652, the date of publication.
- The earliest known chronogram is a Hebrew one occurring in the ancient scriptural manuscript known as the Codex Kennicott 89 which was written by Jacob Halevy. Here the Hebrew letters of the word Law yield the date 1208.
March 5, 2009
tags
constrained cooking
i propose a cooking challenge in which contenders can only create dishes from the following list of ingredients. where did this list come from? this is a list of the foods that saddam hussein had in his spider-hole kitchen when he was captured by george w. bush (in fighter pilot uniform):
- fruits: pomegranates, oranges, apples, kiwis, figs, bananas
- vegetables: cucumbers, carrots
- grains: rice, flour, flatbread
- dairy: processed cheese
- proteins: walnuts, pistachios, sunflower seeds, jars of beans, brown eggs
- meat: spam, cans of tuna, tins of jordanian chicken and beef, salamis, hot dogs
- drinks: bottles of water, instant coffee, lipton tea, 7-up, mouthwash
- sweets: baklava, candied figs, orange marmalade, jars of honey, mars candy bars
saddam was kind of weak in the dairy department, but he more than made up for it with his cache of fruits and candies.
more on how self-imposed constraints can foster creative output: here.
February 10, 2009
