Lexicon. From Bloom County. While sometimes used in the risqué sense, as here, also used to underline various characteristics.
“I’m not going to buy that yarn.”
{ahem}
“Oh, pits. Is it that obvious?”
Is it that obvious?
Reply
Qué?
Lexicon. Not derived from Ulrika and myself having each lived in LA for decades, but calling out Fawlty Towers, and the relationship between Basil Fawlty and poor Manuel. Thus:
“…my theory, which is mine”
Lexicon. Mild reworking of a Monty Python sketch involving John Cleese playing Anne Elk, (Miss). YouTube doesn’t seem to have the original, only performances later, which don’t appear to have the right phrasing. This implies it was being improvised, within certain limits. Here’s Miss Elk announcing a new theory:
This can be rephrased in all kinds of ways. “My drink, which is mine…”, “My car, which is mine…”, etc.
The phones are listening.
My wife and I were driving in our car. I was an IT contractor, and working with a client migrating from Windows 7 to Windows 10.
My team would hire someone, and this would involve getting a variety of network permissions, and equipment for them. The new hires would always have to sit around doing nothing, because their permissions hadn’t come through yet, and we didn’t have the equipment to give them if they had.
“You know what these guys need? They need to use Gantt charts, figure out how long the different paths take, and then tell new hires to show up on the day everything’s ready for them… Instead of having them lurk about. Fun as that can be, depending on the person.”
Ulrika looked at me. She then echoed Joan Kroc’s reported answer to Ray Kroc when he told her he’d bought the Padres (“Honey, what’s a Padre?”) — “Honey, what’s a Gantt chart?”
“You know. A Gantt chart. Stacked horizontal lines? Used to manage a project? You use Office… They’re in Excel, I’m pretty sure.”
“Well, you’re driving, so don’t try to show me just now.”
Now, normally, this would just be a very minor anecdote… except for one thing:
I started seeing ads for Gantt charts in both GMail and Facebook. Ulrika started seeing ads for Gantt charts in both GMail and Facebook.
It’s been four years since I was on that contract, and Facebook still shows me this:
We both have Android phones. We weren’t using them at the time.
It’s really unlikely Ulrika would have been a target audience, given that she didn’t know what they were until that conversation. And it’s a very specialized product.
Don’t tell me the phones don’t listen.
Drug use? Advertising?
I don’t know what you’re talking about.
“Foreshadowing”
Lexicon.
About a week before Bloom County went on a substantial sub-plot about Bill the Cat being a Russian spy, there was this glorious 3-day sequence. It has even been quoted in academic papers.
“Foreshadowing” — Your clue to quality literature.
Here, have a link to the very first Bloom County strip, December 8, 1980. Then, you can read through the whole thing. If you want.
The Man In the Shack
Lexicon.
This comes from “Fit the Twelfth,” the final episode of the radio version of The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The lads have found the ruler of the universe, who is a solitary man in a shack, and who has a cat. While feeding the cat he says,
“I think fish is nice, but then l think that rain is wet, so who am I to judge?”
I’m going to include some screen captures below, because I’m too lazy to type out the whole thing. But it’s Douglas Adams at his most humorously philosophical, and also empirical.
The Frantics
All of them lexicon.
Boot to the head:
Ti Kwan Leep:
And, Make Up Dirty Words:
These are all, spectacularly, from the same album. But so many phrases come from them:
”Boot to the head.”
”Yeah, yeah, patience… how long will that take?”
” I have urges in my areas.”
”…and one for Jenny and the wimp.”
”Beat people up?”
What’s interesting is “Ti Kwan Leep” has generated second generation performances in… martial arts schools, of all places. Here’s an example (a little shaky, but others stick in Vangelis’ Chariots of Fire):
The Frantics were a recurring act on a radio show for novelty records, hosted by Dr Demento. The good Doctor’s most famous acolyte was “Weird Al” Yankovic, who got his start on the radio program.
CrimeReads and Erle Stanley Gardner
A great piece on Perry Mason and Erle Stanley Gardner, that I’m making an entry for good old linkblogging. Maybe I can find it in the future.
“We’ve struck oak!”
Lexicon. Used in many situations where cleaning down to the floor, or clearing a desktop, as appropriate. Originally from Doonesbury, obviously.
