Maybe you have a thought disorder?

Actually, I think I got it wrong.

I don't think that ascribing a new meaning to a word is actually a 'neologism'.

Does anybody know if there is a more correcter term?

The broad term is Semantic Change.

The 'mouse' you have in your hand at the moment is a good example and the 'gay old time' at the end of the Flintstones song became 'Gay rights' and these days if a kid tells you something is gay, it's only because he doesn't like it.

Wikipedia has an article with many subcategories detailed.

Is sad how gay is a synonym for uncool.

Odd thing is even one of my gay friends uses it sometimes....

__________________________________
'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

....so does P.G. Wodehouse and so if he does, it must be alright.

I keep checking my son's textbooks for mention of "The Gay Nineties" as I know the change is coming soon...

Sigh...

Now that raises some issues:

The 20th Century had the Roaring Twenties and the Swinging Sixties. These are both fairly well known and used, but what about all the other decades? Why haven't they got cutesy adjectives to describe them? Any suggestions?

(I believe the 1890's were the Gay Nineties - and, of course, the first decade of any century begs for the Naughty Naughties)

Why not create our own?

the trashy teens?

the tremolous twenties (Dporothy Provine notwithstanding)

the tawdry thirties

the fighting forties

the f*cking fifties, or frightening if you prefer

the shagging sixties

the succumbing seventies - think of all the business men and their shonky activites of the time and how many orf the regulatory organisations and their political managers who did sweet FA about them.

the encumbered eighties - where we started paying for the lack of control of the seventies

the nothing nineties - where religious prejudice and bigotry began to overcome the intellectual freedom what made western civilisation outward looking and seeking of answers, not bigoted 'received dogma', aided and assisted by politicians whose awareness of the real world and of morality, ethics and decency was seconded to monetarist dogma.

the negative noughties of century 21 - where the free thinking are aware even more of the dreaded big-brotherism of religion and ignorance, along with their associates of xenophobia and separation of humanity in to 'us' and 'them'.


I've just finished looking at 'The Ascent of Man' and I am afraid that Bronowski's final chapter looks even more likely to happen that it did in the seventies.

We need a new messiah to led us out of the lands of ignorance and inwardlookingness out into a land of testing the limits and encouraging a want to know even if just for the knopwledge's sake itself.


<exits stage left and looks for more powerful antidepressants as fears change of government will make no real difference to society>

I think I'll pass on the Messiah.

I'll give it a shot if you like...

Spose I'd better come up with come commandments or something now.

If that's the case, could I put in a request that you leave out that bit about coveting my neighbour's ass?

Many years ago David Frost mentioned that in the Bible one commandment was 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour' and another was 'thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife'.

In other words it's alright with him but not with her.

I like the Messiah. one of Handel's catchier numbers.

It will be interesting to contemplate what BK's commandments are:

Apart from chocolate and Johnny Depp, and permutations thereof, what else may arise?

Glaze.

__________________________________
'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

Contemplating the Kitten as the messiah (the Meskitten?) suddenly made Yeats spring to mind (pardoning any slight memory glitches):

...And what rough beast
it's hour come round at last
slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?

For the life of me, I can't see what caused that mental association.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/05/2007 10:27PM by robert.

Methinks the falcon cannot see the falconer...

I'm trying to work out how to phrase something along the lines of "...is fine between legally consenting donkeys" and still make it sound almighty-ish.

<Makes mental note to take revenge for 'rough beast'. Probably something involving a flood, plague of boils or pillar of salt. Or possibly a baked-bean drought>

[This post has now been vaccinated against mispeling vyrus 2.0, (tipografikus eraii) ]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/08/2007 02:20PM by Bonzai Kitten.

What about a cork? Although blow-back is never pretty....

__________________________________
'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

Isn't a 'rough beast' a wild dog?

BK as Messiah. Good thought. Or should it be 'Messiahette' or 'Ms Messiah to You'?

I think it is time for a female religious leader. Just remembering that religions started out as supplications to natural forces, what could be more appropriate that to have one of the great natural forces of the universe, namely a motivated female, as the inspiration for a new religion.

Second commandment might be along the lines of:

Thou shalt have plenty of chocolate on hand.'

third one would be:

'thou shalt not discriminate agianst chocolate on account of its colour. All chocolates regardless of colour are equal'.


Are there any more required?

"All chocolate with a cocoa percentage of over 65 percent shall be reserved for the gods. Some chocolates are more equal than others... Yea, the purest of chocolate shall be known throughout the lands as God's Chosen Chocolate, and so it was. And so it is. And so shall it ever be. Amen."

Oh yes, happy are those who are called to this supper!

Hm...do you really think that you could get a religion going that required its believers to sacrifice part of their chocolate? If I allready wasn't an atheist, that would make me one for sure!