Say what?

A few posts back I tried to create a new word. While Blamble hasn't taken off yet, I still have hope.

My hope springs (not eternal, but for a little while longer) from everyday conversation. I have developed the habit of stopping every once in a while to examine the words I use everyday. I like to compare them with my mental database of words my parents wouldn't have recognized when I was born(such as, possibly, database) or whose meanings have changed so dramatically as to make their use totally foreign to those people of the past.

Examples:

blog, e-mail, internet, world wide web, dot com, Al Qaeda, hard drive, (basically any computer term); console gaming, air bags, Ground Zero, September 11th, PDA, CD, DVD, video tape...

The list is long. You can throw in just about any brand name and most technology and a lot of acronyms.

I'm going to keep today's post short, don't want to blamble too much, but I challenge you reader(s) to examine your language. Would your parents have understood you when they were your age? I'm not refering to slang (no -izzles in the list), or limiting it to technology words (though there's a whole post in the changes in technology), but words in general.

Just something to think about. And a basis of hope for the new words (*cough*blamble*cough*) to come.

English (like Frodo) lives.

Why we are losing or souls, or: Video Killed a lot more than the radio star

So, it has been noticed by many that, generally speaking, people are getting wronger(more wrong?). By this I mean that people are ruder, less considerate and more self-centered. Children don't behave like they used to, service has gone downhill, etc.

Now, part of this is just getting older. The older you get, the more annoying young'uns seem to be. But things are so much worse now, that even people m own age are annoying and older people too. What is so hard to understand about using a freaking trash can? Or saying excuse me when you bump into someone? Jeesh.

So, I have observed and contemplated and realised what the problem is. but first, a delve into history.

As a young and naieve teen I once wrote a tongue-in-cheek column on the proliferation of video cameras. I observed that the people and moments recorded by camcorder are always so happy and cheerful that if we just put camcorders everywhere we would have world peace (brought to you by Sony).

Oh, youth. If only I had realized the armageddon my idea would unleash.

See, I have observed that this bad behavior can most directly be linke to the fact that people just don't have souls anymore. Well, they have souls, there just alot smaller than they used to be. some have suggested the theory that the world was created with one soul, Adam (I assume this theory refers only to human souls, by the way, as animals and plants and such had their own soul pool). Adam's soul was quickly split to make Eve and over the years each time a new person is formed it takes half the soul of his/her creator. This would, understandably, result in a thinning of souls. (1/2 of 1/2 of 1/2 of 1/2, etc. is a small number.) I think this theory is hogwash. Infinite universe, infinite soul pools.

I have another theory. See, some peoples believe that cameras steal a little bit of your soul. What if this were true? What if cameras steal the soul?

"But," you might point out, "cameras have been around for a good while and you, the poster, said that this seems worse of late, why would it suddenly get worse?"

In a word, volume.

think of it this way, An X-Ray now and then doesn't do too much harm. But, have you ever noticed how X-Ray technicians go and stand behind lead walls to take the shot? Not only is this slightly discomfiting, but it serves a purpose: X-Ray techs stay alive. if they were exposed to every X-ray they took, well,it wouldn't be good.

It's the same with cameras. A few shots aren't going to hurt you. Someone takes your picture, "'tis merely a flesh wound." But, what about the security cameras? Or the camcorder displays at an electronics stores? Or the TV news shots of a crowd? That all starts to add up, especially the security cameras. I mean, is it any wonder that TV journalists are soulless hacks? (Perhaps the soul is related to talent which would explain why TV personalities so often suck).

So, if my little essay on cameras for peace has caused the world any harm, I apologize. That was not my intention. I just thought I should apologize while I had some soul left.

Age or Geography?

I seldom come to a post with a topic in mind. On rare occasions, however, I will observe something I want to talk about and begin writing in my head, ready to put it down on the computer. (Note: What's written in my head never survives intact to be posted).

Today was one of those rare days when I had something that I wanted to post. Because I can, I'm going to share some of what I started writing in my head, and then what I realized and kind of give you an inside look at blambling in action (still trying to push that stupid word, I can just imagine trying to make that a word for the rest of my life - to the point where it's carved on my tombstone. Hey, it worked for Mr. Sandwich!)

the original:

Today I feel like talking about socializing. More specifically, hanging out with friends. Now some of you may have the ability to call a friend up and meet up with them on the spur of the moment. Those of you in New York laugh at this concept(note: as there are only two, possibly three, acknowledged readers of these posts, and one lives in NYC, the other doesn't, it's safe to assume that half of you know what I'm talking about).

That's the thing about New York, you don't just go over to people's houses. First, meeting people is a pain here, but that's a post of it's own. Once you have people who actually have given you a phone number and e-mail address, making plans with them is a drawn out back and forth affair. Especially over e-mail. In the whole time I've lived in the city, only once have I called up a friend and said "hey, want to hang out tonight?" And that was today. And that's why I'm thinking about this.

the ironic(possibly, maybe just weird - note to self: study definition of irony) thing is that many people move to New York city for the whole Friends/Seinfeld atmosphere of people just dropping by. Life is not a sitcom people! for one thing, New York apartments, especially in Manhattan, aren't nearly as big as they are on tv.

But what I'm trying to observe is that in New York, people don't drop by. things are planned to death. It's to the point where you almost look forward to hanging out with friends with the same level of anticipation as a vacation to Europe.


End original thoughts(my head can hold a lot of writing, sorrY)

As I was trying to type this out, the fact that I might be completely wrong occurred to me. what if this "New York" phenomenon wasn't a New York thing, but an age thing? What if getting old just means you have to squelch all semblance of spontaneity?

So, my question to you, both of you and anyone else who swings by, my question is: Is this a New york thing or a getting older thing? Do people just stop by anymore, or is everything planned out the wazoo? (Also, what exactly was a wazoo before it came to have it's current meaning?)

The question being asked, I just realized I am late for the impromptu gathering I have tonight. Maybe that's why people plan so far in advance?