Good ol' Betty

It's a bit of a strangled-route-and-left-at-the-traffic-lights path, but when an incredulous person says something like, "300 yard drive my ass!" they are actually using a descendant of the phrase, "All my eye and Betty Martin!" (Hands up if you've heard that one before... anyone?).

Frost, and saving the semantic phenomenon

I usually hate when people say something like, "I want to live my life to the fullest with no regrets!" The statement is usually meant in one of two ways, both of which are complete foolishness. That said, though, I do think there is a way to save the phrase.

Here are the two ways most people mean the statement (and my problems with them). Then my attempt to make it work:

1. No regrets in general
To regret something is to wish that one had acted differently. Clearly no one can ever live a life in which they never wish they had acted differently (unless it is a life utterly bereft of reflection). "Even the wisest cannot see all ends."

2. No regrets about missed opportunities
What a lot of people mean by the phrase, is that they don't want to get to the end of their lives and say something like, "Gee, I really wish I would have gone base jumping with a penguin named Harry strapped to my chest." But missed opportunities are just as inevitable as unforeseen consequences.

To testify to all of this, here is the most overplayed poem in history (except maybe "A Dream Deferred"): Robert Frost's "Road Not Taken."

The obvious thrust of the verse is that a thoughtful person will always and forever be faced with mutually exclusive choices, and will never be able to know what might have been if they had chosen aught else. The sigh that Frost will heave is indeed a sigh of regret.

3. Living without meta-regret
There is one way in which I could accept the notion of "living without regret." This is that a person determines the values and rules that will guide his every move. These grant him a calculus by which to act in all situations, that he believes will minimize regrettable choices and actions. Then, at the end of his life, he may say that he has no regrets about maintaining that optimal calculus (even though it did not eliminate all first level regret).

I could care less

Here's an article that tries to provide some reasoning for the American switch of "I couldn't care less," to "I could care less," a change that bothers me to no end. It's from a website that has just this minute become one of my favorites: worldwidewords.org.

On this particular subject though, I think I have to disagree with Steven Pinker (who is referenced in the article linked above). Pinker thinks that "I couldn't care less" has been changed so that it better fits in a family of phrases that is prominent in Yiddish culture. While the cadence of the latter form does seem to lend itself to a disdainful use, I don't think that it quite fits with the grouping, "I should be so lucky," and "Tell me about it." Both of these phrases retain a delivery that indicates the speaker understand himself to be giving a sarcastic reply. "I could care less," on the other hand, is delivered matter of factly.

Clarifications concerning hip hop

A few recent blog posts on hip hop made me think that it would be worthwhile to set some things straight about which a good number of people (even those who like hip hop) seem to be confused.

• Hip hop is a genre of music. Rap is a vocal style.

Rap music may have been a common term at one time (and a cheesy dc Talk song), but it is a misnomer. However, a piece of hip hop containing rap vocals is accurately called "a rap." (Though this is now a very square way to put it... preferable options include the classic standbys "a joint" and "a jam.")

• Rapping is a musical vocalization that keys on rhythm, as opposed to singing, which is a musical vocalization that keys on melody or harmony.

• Both rapping and singing are accurately described as "talking to music," but neither is merely talking to music.

• If you ever say something like "crap music" as an attempt to make a play on the phrase "rap music," you are not funny or clever. You are, in point of fact, a douche.
  

Expansion by analogy, or, What's the F?

Apparently this week is Islamo-Fascism Awareness week. Colleges around the nation are inviting speakers to discuss the problem Islamo-Fascism. These are pretty much all conservative speakers... a fact that itself would make for an interesting post.

But instead of that, I'm interested here in how the term "fascism" has come to be used. And by "interested," I mean annoyed. I hate when words lose their meanings, and I'm afraid it's happened to the F word quite some time ago.

Fascism has traditionally indicated a dictatorial government that maintains strict and oppressive control over the activities of its people. (By the way, after reading this definition, does anyone really think the term Islamo-Fascist doesn't legitimately apply to places like Iran?) But that traditional reading has been loosened up. It now seems that any unpleasant exercise of authority is considered fascism.

Perhaps we could call what has happened to this definition, "expansion by analogy." My guess is that it started with calling local authority (principals, parents, etc.) fascists to make an analogy from their rules to despotic declarations. This loosened things up, and the term began to be applied in more and more places. But as it was used for a wider variety of figures and acts it began to lose its function as an analog and take on a broader definition until it came to serve its current function, which is an all-but-contentless slur of disapproval.

Case and point, today's Ann Coulter column. It's probably one of my favorites of hers for clearly pointing out something else I'm frustrated with, the lack of civility on the part of the left (especially at college campuses) that leads to a double standard, despite all the talk about "dialog." However, the mix of appropriate and loose uses of the word fascist just about drove me crazy. Not that it's much of a drive, but still...