What is Life?
It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the winter time.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass
and loses itself in the Sunset."
-Crowfoot....April 1890, on his deathbed
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Study: Breaking up is like quitting cocaine addiction
(CNN) – They say breaking up is hard to do, but how does the brain react to getting dumped? A new study looks at what's going on in our brains after breakups. Helen Fisher is a biological anthropologist and research professor at Rutgers University. She led the study and she joined us on Wednesday's American Morning to explain the findings. Watch
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Image via WikipediaWord for Word: Neology; In the Dictionary Game, Yada Yada Yada Is Satisficing to Some, Not Others
THE people who compile dictionaries always have ''news'' (n. pl. Oxford English Dictionaries' in-house word for new words). But neologisms are not always newly minted. Take ''yada yada yada,'' which long before ''Seinfeld'' was used by Lenny Bruce.
Jesse Sheidlower, the senior editor in charge of new words at Random House, became convinced of yada yada yada's staying power not only by its history, but also by the existence of well-established parallel expressions (blah blah blah, for instance). He put it in the 1996 Random House Webster's College Dictionary.
However, Michael Agnes, editor in chief of Webster's New World College Dictionary, excluded yada yada yada from his 1996 edition. And having tracked a decline in its use, he is glad that he did. ''This year we would have had to take it out,'' he said.
New words help give each dictionary its personality.
http://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/22/weekinreview/word-for-word-neology-dictionary-game-yada-yada-yada-satisficing-some-not-others.html
neologism, neology
http://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/22/weekinreview/word-for-word-neology-dictionary-game-yada-yada-yada-satisficing-some-not-others.html
neologism, neology
1. a new word, usage, or phrase.
2. the coining or introduction of new words or new senses for established words. See also theology. — neologian, neologist, n. — neologistic, neologistical, adj.
2. the coining or introduction of new words or new senses for established words. See also theology. — neologian, neologist, n. — neologistic, neologistical, adj.
Dictionary
Main Entry: ya·da ya·da
Variant(s): or yad·da yad·da \ˈyä-də-ˈyä-də\ or yada yada yada or yadda yadda yadda \-ˈyä-də\
Function: noun
Etymology: alteration of earlier yatata idle chatter, probably ultimately from British dial. and argot yatter-yatter to chatter, of imitative origin
Date: 1980
: boring or empty talk —often used interjectionally especially in recounting words regarded as too dull or predictable to be worth repeating
Source: Random House Webster's College Dictionary
Insight on the News, Oct 27, 1997 by Jennifer Harper
Variant(s): or yad·da yad·da \ˈyä-də-ˈyä-də\ or yada yada yada or yadda yadda yadda \-ˈyä-də\
Function: noun
Etymology: alteration of earlier yatata idle chatter, probably ultimately from British dial. and argot yatter-yatter to chatter, of imitative origin
Date: 1980
: boring or empty talk
Hot off the presses, the updated and very spiffy Random House Webster's College Dictionary offers some surprises to students of the English language. Among the new entries, for example, browsers will find yada-yada-yada, defined on page 1489 as "blah-blah-blah." Also listed: Granny dumping soccer moms, transgender, gazillion (but not kajillion), roofie, bad hair day, wedgie, uptalk magic bullet, overclass and lap dance.
"Dictionaries are the indexes of current society," says Editor in Chief Sol Steinmetz, who also wrote the book The F Word. "And the words we use reflect society's concerns." For the last several years, Steinmetz and his 39-member staff have had the heady task of determining winners and losers in the bright-red volume, billed as "the only dictionary written and designed for the 21st century"
Source: Random House Webster's College Dictionary
Insight on the News, Oct 27, 1997 by Jennifer Harper
Lenny Bruce
One resource says that "it seems certain that yadda-yadda-yadda is a variation of a phrase used in pre-1940 vaudeville".
Neither Seinfeld nor his writers invented the term. It can be traced back with certainty to the controversial comedian Lenny Bruce in the early 1960s. Bruce grew up in the 1940s world of Jewish club comics, who often used routines and expressions dating back to the vaudeville era. But since the term was transmitted orally, it's hard to find early printed examples.
Incidentally, the similar expression yackety-yack, which was popularized in the 1950s, can probably be related back to the term yack, used before 1900 to mean talk. Blah-blah-blah shows up in the 1910s.
The updated and very spiffy Random House Webster's College Dictionary offers some surprises to students of the English language. Among the new entries, for example, browsers will find yada-yada-yada, defined on page 1489 as "blah-blah-blah."
Lenny Bruce was heard to say,
“The "what should be" never did exist, but people keep trying to live up to it. There is no "what should be," there is only what is.”
“Every day people are straying away from the church and going back to God.”
“If Jesus had been killed twenty years ago, Catholic school children would be wearing little electric chairs around their necks instead of crosses.”
“A lot of people say to me, `Why did you kill Christ?' I dunno, it was one of those parties, got out of hand, you know.”
“A lot of people say to me, ''Why did you kill Christ?'' ''I dunno... it was one of those parties, got out of hand, you know.'' ''We killed him because he didn't want to become a doctor, that's why we killed him.''”
“The whole motivation for any performer is "Look at me, Ma”
“In the halls of justice, the only justice is in the halls”
“Never tell. Not if you love your wife... In fact, if your old lady walks in on you, deny it. Yeah. Just flat out and she'll believe it: "I'm tellin' ya. This chick came downstairs with a sign around her neck 'Lay on Top of Me Or I'll Die.' I didn't know what I was gonna do...."
“The role of a comedian is to make the audience laugh, at a minimum of once every fifteen seconds.”
“The only honest art form is laughter, comedy. You can't fake it... try to fake three laughs in an hour -- ha ha ha ha ha -- they'll take you away, man. You can't.”
“All my humor is based upon destruction and despair. If the whole world were tranquil, without disease and violence, I'd be standing on the breadline right in back of J. Edgar Hoover.”
“Satire is tragedy plus time. You give it enough time, the public, the reviewers will allow you to satirize it. Which is rather ridiculous, when you think about it.”
“The thing with Catholicism, the same as all religions, is that it teaches what should be, which seems rather incorrect. This is ''what should be.'' Now, if you're taught to live up to a ''what should be'' that never existed -- only an occult superstition, no proof of this ''should be'' -- then you can sit on a jury and indict easily, you can cast the first stone, you can burn Adolf Eichmann, like that!”
“The only truly anonymous donor is the guy who knocks up your daughter”
“I hate small towns because once you've seen the cannon in the park there's nothing else to do.”
“Today's comedian has a cross to bear that he built himself. A comedian of the older generation did an ''act'' and he told the audience, ''This is my act.'' Today's comic is not doing an act. The audience assumes he's telling the truth. What is truth today may be a damn lie next week.”
“Communism is like one big phone company."
“Take away the right to say 'fuck' and you take away the right to say 'fuck the government.'
“Now a Jew, in the dictionary, is one who is descended from the ancient tribes of Judea, or one who is regarded as descended from that tribe. That's what it says in the dictionary; but you and I know what a Jew is -- One Who Killed Our Lord. And although there should be a statute of limitations for that crime, it seems that those who neither have the actions nor the gait of Christians, pagan or not, will bust us out, unrelenting dues, for another deuce.”
~Lenny Bruce
Mythical Kings and Iguanas
Mythical Kings and Iguanas was the second solo LP by Dory Previn, released in early 1971. Following her successful debut as a confessional singer-songwriter the previous year, it concentrated on the quest for spiritual fulfilment and a loving relationship.
TRACK LISTINGS:
Mythical Kings and Iguanas
Yada Yada la Scala
The Lady With the Braid
Her Mother's Daughter
Angels and Devils the Following Day
Mary C. Brown and the Hollywood Sign
Lemon Haired Ladies
Stone for Bessie Smith
The Game
Going Home
Source
Seinfeld Episode #183- "Yada,Yada,Yada" re-popularized old slang expression.
"Yada yada"
Look up yada yada yada inWiktionary, the free dictionary.
The episode is one of the most famous of the series, specifically for its focus on the phrase "yada yada". "Yadda yadda" was already a relatively common phrase before the episode aired, used notably by comedian Lenny Bruce, among others. The phrase may have originated with the 1950s "yackety-yack", 1940s vaudeville, and earlier.
Look up yada yada yada inWiktionary, the free dictionary.
The episode is one of the most famous of the series, specifically for its focus on the phrase "yada yada". "Yadda yadda" was already a relatively common phrase before the episode aired, used notably by comedian Lenny Bruce, among others. The phrase may have originated with the 1950s "yackety-yack", 1940s vaudeville, and earlier.
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