Anti Word of the Week: Totes

Posted by Jack on 12.19.2008 at 4:22 pm

Based on my perusing of Urban Dictionary, “Totes” appears to be the abbreviation of totally. This word is typically used by a hipster crowd that feels that there is some irony in pretending to speak like Paris Hilton. At the same time, this group will claim to like pop music and some types of popular rap even though they normally hate the musical selection of others. This is totes crap.

Totes in this context does not appear to be related to the umbrella company.

1 Comment » | Tagged Uncategorized, Anti Word of the Week, ridiculousness, totes, urban dictionary

A Pair of Ragged C(itations)

Posted by Jack on 07.30.2008 at 1:13 pm

We’re not going to argue the artistic merits, or lack thereof, of graffiti here, but I think we can all agree that if one is going to advertise their “intelligence” they should in the least make sure to do the research.

In Pittsburgh, a graffiti artist decided to tag the library with the quote “I wish I were a pair of ragged claws scuttling across the floors of silent seas.”  Now the careful reader recognizes the lack of a line break after “claws” as the author would have intended.  But the best part is really that the graffiti artist attributed the quote to a “J. Alfred Prufrock.”

The line, cribbed from “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is arguably the most famous work (although some would say The Wasteland) of expatriate Modernist master T.S. Eliot.  The question here really, is how do you have the level of education to quote the line exactly, but so grossly botch the attribution thereof?  God forbid someone mismatch his own work with that of Banksy (although Banksy would never be so sloppy).

Oh, and who tags a library, I mean really.

Sidebar (from yours truly, a total Eliot nerd):

For your enjoyment, the full poem is here, but I personally can’t stand reading poetry online, in which case you want to pick up any of the following:

-A great copy of The Wasteland (with annotations from Ezra Pound, who was his introduction into London society when the premiere critic of the time read “Prufrock” and said to Pound something to the tune of “Your friend doesn’t need a publisher, he needs an asylum.”  This is a great text with which you can work through the poem).

-The Complete Poems and Plays (this one is just great, try “Four Quartets”)

-Old Possums Book of Practical Cats (this is not good, just don’t go here)

-The Sacred Wood or Christianity and Culture (if you like G.K. Chesterton you’re going to love these, when Eliot delved into Christianty he did so with restraint and a distinctly intelligensia/modernist tinge, very interesting!)

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