Saturday, April 08, 2006

This amazing, evolving language (intelligently designed)

Language is a wonderful thing. It tells us so much. Sometimes new words are created or old words combined to expand and enhance language. I guess that was my intention day before yesterday when I coined the new word "oddience" here.

But I was also excited to learn I'm not the only one advancing the meanings and richness of language. It's being enhanced continuously by a new word coined, a new phrase conceived. Oh, my "oddience" may not stick. I realize that. But some new words and phrases do.

And that's why I thought I'd devote just a moment to credit those responsible for a new vocabulary addition I encountered a couple of days ago. I believe it was coined by a fine group of young white university men, members of the lacrosse team at Duke. To them I say, "Hats off!" for enriching language with their bold contribution, "accidental rape".

In defense of advancing spontaneous, intimate unwanted relationships between the sexes, I think accidental rape has the potential to become a real "green light" word!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dada, since reading this, I've been trying to figure out what part of rape could be "accidental"? In this specific case, maybe if these lacrosse guys used their sticks for a particularly hard ball whack & somehow the ball "accidentally" flew into an unintended "goal"? Or is that an illegal body check? I dunno, these Duke guys are too smart for me. Please don't let their tortured vocabulary sully your great "oddience" contribution. D.K.

enigma4ever said...

great post....Will visit for a bit...Have been caring for a friend...miss you much....new post over at WS

Anonymous said...

ac-ci-den-tal rape??? an oxymoron, if I've ever heard one...appropriately enough, coined by the lily-white morons involved...so, let's see, they know what rape is, but it wasn't their fault, therefore the accident??? an admission of wrongdoing and a disclaimer in the same breath...doublethink!

guess the source of this movie quote...

"a bunch of snotty-nosed bastards in tweed jackets, all studying to be George Bush"

Dada said...

OK Maineiac: I confess. I pondered, honestly, your quote for a moment. Then coming up hopelessly blank, I scrambled for the nearest search engine. Again I drew a blank! Okay, was it Barbara Boxer? Barbara Bush?

Anonymous said...

Dada, that's Scent of a Woman with Al Pacino!!! A movie I've never seen since I can no longer take his yelling method-of-showing- emotion acting (but heard the phrase on promos). The Al Pacino I loved died with The Godfather. If Maineiac recommends it, I'll try it next time it's on HBO (but the first time he yells to show emotion, I'm gone). It is a great quote, though. D.K.

Dada said...

D.K. You're kidding me, right? Jeezuz, how do you KNOW this stuff, huh? You haven't even seen the flippin' movie (and I saw it twice and still don't recall that quote)!

Well, truthfully, I found Pacino's demeanor precisely as you described it. It was quite tiresome. However, I had to watch it a second time for the tango scene. Ahhh, loved that.

Anonymous said...

DK, you're truly incredible with the movie, book and famous quote material that's tucked away in your head...I sincerely hope for myself that there are more available women like you in the world...I happen to place that movie high on my list of all-time, watch-it-over-and-over favorites...i identify strongly with the suicidal, lonely, angry, loud-mouthed, drunken, spit-in-the-face-of-authority character even though i only carry around 2 of those qualities now...and he finds some meaning to his life and maybe even gets the girl in the end...you probably won't like the movie very much if your feelings about Pacino's post-Godfather acting are that strong...to each their own...

Anonymous said...

Y'know it's possible that movie was on the TV some night as I was busy doing whatever, so maybe caught a piece of it & remembered it. I KNOW I never saw more than a few minutes with full consciousness. So, for instance, have no idea of any tango scene, dada.

maineiac, hope those two qualities you retain are anger & spit-in-the-face of authority, although loud-mouthed (toward a good cause) would also be acceptable. Tell you what, next time it's on, I'll watch it with you in mind, how's that? D.K.

Anonymous said...

that'll have to do for now, DK, and thanks in advance!