The Wired blog has a great post by John Scott Lewinski that called my attention to a new book called A Damp Squid: The English Language Laid Bare.

We learn, for instance, that we use language in chunks of words–as one linguist put it, “we know words by the company that they keep.” For instance, the word quintessentially is joined half the time with a nationality–something is “quintessentially American” or “quintessentially British.” Likewise, in comparing eccentric with quirky, the Corpus reveals that eccentric almost always appears in reference to people, as an “eccentric uncle,” while quirky usually refers to the actions of people, as in “quirky behavior.” Using such observations, Butterfield explains how dictionary makers decide which words to include, how they find definitions, and how the Corpus influences the process.

Also included in the book is the “Oxford Researchers List of the Top 10 Most Annoying Phrases.” I’ve seen lists like this before, but I was interested in the University of Oxford researchers’ version because they track such usage through the Oxford English Corpus database, a terrific resource in its own right. Someday, I’ll have my very own OED…. sigh. Yes, I’m enough of a bookworm nerd to drool over it.

1. At the end of the day
2. Fairly unique
3. I personally
4. At this moment in time
5. With all due respect
6. Absolutely
7. It’s a nightmare
8. Shouldn’t of (Damn you all! It’s “shouldn’t HAVE”!)
9. 24/7
10. It’s not rocket science

I would add these:

• smart X
• extreme X
• X on steroids
• cutting-edge
• bottom-line
• outside the box
• dealbreaker
• 110%
• having said that
• I’m just saying
• I’m not a racist, but…
• literally (especially when it’s not literally)
• basically
• irregardless
• like, you know
• and I was like
• I mean
• to be completely honest
• touch base
• I hear what you’re saying
• same difference
• nucular
• rilly
• no doubt
• happy camper
• free gift
• I’m good
• on the same page
• maverick
• sour grapes

Have any more?

It would have been great to have had “Virus of the Mind” for the dissertation….

Click to view video

HEATHER NOVA
South 2001
Virus of The Mind

Well I was watching this talk show the other day
And on it there was this guy and he was saying
When you let other people tell you what’s right
When you leave your instinct and your own truth behind he said
That’s a virus of the mind. that’s a virus of the mind
I guess it’s kind of like losing your sight; for a
Second you think that they might be right, and it
Feeds the doubts you have inside, and it
Almost starts to feel like a crime
To follow your own rhythm and rhyme

Yeah I’m pretty happy living in my own sweet time I’m pretty happy
And I don’t need your virus of the mind

Well I went to this party thing last night
A lot of people I hadn’t seen in a long time
And they wanted to know about my life,
But making me feel like it wasn’t quite right
Like where’s your kids and where’s your car?
I said I don’t have either but I have a guitar
And I ended up feeling like I was a freak
So I found some wine and something to eat
And I talked to a dog to pass the time
Told myself I’m doing fine,
It’s just a virus of the mind
It’s just a virus of the mind

Yeah I’m pretty happy living in my own sweet time I’m pretty happy
And I don’t need your virus of the mind

It’s in the deep of your soul
It’s on the tip of your tongue
It’s the feeling you get when you feel young
It’s in the sound of the beat
It’s in the base of your spine
It’s in your gut reaction, yeah every time
But they tell you what you should have,
They tell you who you should be
It’s in the pictures and ads and in the magazines
I’m kicking it off like a bug in the breeze
’cause is anyone out there inside me?
I said is anyone out there inside me?
I say is anyone?

“Dangerous Ideas: How Conservatives Exploit Our Five Core Concerns” (above) describes how today’s conservatives have used appeals to our core concerns about vulnerability, injustice, distrust, superiority, and helplessness in order to further a narrow ideological agenda that actually benefits very few while leaving most of us worse off.

Here he examines these same psychological framings as they apply to war-mongering (special emphasis on Iraq).

“Resisting the Drums of War” describes how the misguided and destructive war in Iraq was promoted by targeting our concerns about vulnerability, injustice, distrust, superiority, and helplessness. The continued occupation of Iraq–or an attack on Iran–will likely be sold to us in much the same way.

He’s my favorite.

You may run across different spellings of his name. This is how I saw it when I first started reading, but you will also see Zhuangzi, Chuang Tsu, Zhuang Tze, Chouang-Dsi, or Chuang Tse, depending on the conventions being used. (Traditional: 莊子; Simplified: 庄子, Pinyin: Zhuāng Zǐ, Wade-Giles: Chuang Tzŭ)

If you’ve never read Chuang Tzu, Thomas Merton’s personal readings in Way of Chuang Tzu are a friendly gentle introductory bridge to some of the writings of one of the most important classical Taoists.

My copy is covered with underlining and notes from my thoughts from many (many – early 80’s) years ago. I reread it last night – what a treat! I would occasionally stumble across a comment that made me choke, trying not to laugh out loud (everyone else was asleep).

For example, in the introduction, Merton compares Chuang Tzu to St. Paul; that almost blew the whole thing for me right there at the time. I won’t tell you what I wrote in the margin. (hee-hee) How things have changed.

Now I can see a certain degree of similarity in the emphasis on inner virtue as a virtue above “virtue” (rules) and something a little like grace in the Tao – maybe. I still think the analogy to Paul is really stretching it.

Still, this was Thomas Merton, and one must make allowances for a Catholic monk who tried to bridge West and East, especially when this book was published (1965). Merton admits that it is a personal reading. He likes Chuang Tzu

“because he is what he is and I feel no need to justify this liking to myself or anyone else. He is far too great to need any apologies from me. If St. Augustine could read Plotinus, if St. Thomas could read Aristotle and Averroes (both of them certainly a long way further from Christianity than Chuang Tzu ever was!), and if Teilhard de Chardin could make copious use of Marx and Engels in his synthesis, I think I may be pardoned for consorting with a Chinese recluse who shares the climate and peace of my own kind of solitude, and who is my own kind of person.”

It’s telling that he foresaw objections… and that he defends within the parenthesis of not-defending….

Favorite bits:

You cannot put a big load in a small bag,
Nor can you, with a short rope,
Draw water from a deep well.
You cannot talk to a power politician
As if he were a wise man.
If he seeks to understand you,
If he looks inside himself
To find the truth you have told him,
He cannot find it there.
Not finding, he doubts.
When a man doubts,
He will kill.

The man in whom Tao
Acts without impediment
Harms no other being
By his actions
Yet he does not know himself
To be “kind,” to be “gentle.”

My opinion is that you never find happiness until you stop looking for it. My greatest happiness consists precisely in doing nothing whatever that is calculated to obtain happiness: and this, in the minds of most people, is the worst possible course.
… If you ask “what ought to be done?” and “What ought not to be done” on earth in order to produce happiness, I answer that these questions do not have an answer. There is no way of determining such things.
Yet at the same time, if I cease striving for happiness, the “right” and the “wrong” at once become apparent all by themselves.

And my personal favorite:

When Chuang Tzu was about to die, his disciples began planning a splendid funeral. But he said, “I shall have heaven and earth for my coffin; the sun and moon will be the jade symbols hanging by my side; planets and constellations will shine as jewels all around me, and all beings will be present as mourners at the wake. What more is needed? Everything is amply taken care of!”

But they said, “we fear that crows and kites will eat our Master.”

“Well,” said Chuang Tzu, “above ground I shall be eaten by crows and kites, below it by ants and worms. In either case I shall be eaten. Why are you so partial to birds?”

That’s a case where I wish I understood the original Chinese. I think the last line should probably be translated as something closer to “so why are birds in particular to be feared?” or even “what have you got against the birds?”.

I’m going to start rereading Burton Watson’s translation of Chuang Tzu – Basic Writings tonight. I remember that my favorite text was on the last page – I admired the placement.

The fish trap exists because of the fish; once you’ve gotten the fish, you can forget the trap. The rabbit snare exists because of the rabbit; once you’ve gotten the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words exist because of meaning; once you’ve gotten the meaning, you can forget the words. Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so I can have a word with him?

I’ve got still another Chuang Tzu text around here somewhere… where could it be? I remember the cover is white, with light-blue text for the title. I think the translator was A. C. Graham. Hmmm. Well, it’ll turn up –

Every Saturday I will post another of Laurie Anderson’s public service announcements. She actually calls them personal service announcements.

Just a few little tidbits for you to ruminate upon. (Please make more, Laurie.)

The first PSA that I’ve chosen is called “National Anthem.”

Click to view video

The words are great though..just a lot of questions, written during a fire…. things like:

Hey, do you see anything over there?
I don’t know, there’s a lot of smoke.

Say, isn’t that a flag?
Hmmmm…Couldn’t say really. It’s pretty early in the morning.

Hey – do you smell something burning?

• Players start with 8 random facts about themselves.
• Those who are tagged should post these rules and their 8 random facts.
• Players should tag 8 other people and notify them that they have been tagged.

So here are 8 random facts about me, VirusHead, Heidi:

1. I wish that I had thought of a different name for my site. “VirusHead” captured who I was, but not so much who I am now.
2. I have always wanted to learn how to play the guitar (I watched Stranger than Fiction last night, and loved it).
3. I’m writing a vampire novel. I’ve got the background ideas and plot worked out, and I think the characters are pretty good. However, I’ve discovered that I’m not very good at pacing or dialogue. I think it’s going to be a while before I’m happy with what I’ve written. Now I sort of wish I hadn’t mentioned it to anybody (grimace).
4. I am attracted to very precise descriptive language. I have the soul of a poet. If I don’t always find the words myself, I do appreciate when others have done so. Two of my favorites: E. B. White knew that his girlfriend would become his wife at the moment when she referred to dental floss as “tooth twine.” A couple of years ago, our son Ben complained when I turned on his light in the morning. Why? What’s wrong? “The light bites my eyes.” Exactly, of course it does.
5. I have a very ambivalent attitude toward community; I am both repulsed by and attracted to being a “member” of a group. I see the benefits, and I long for them, but there is something inside of me that strenuously objects. This creates obstacles and problems, and I’m still not sure how to resolve them.
6. I will take almost any opportunity to sing. I love to play with voice. My favorite recording was a version of Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell” in which I was pretending to be Susan Sarandon in Rocky Horror. It’s hilarious, or at least it is to me.
7. I prefer wearing dresses to wearing pants or jeans, especially in the summer. I don’t like current fashions, and I’m always looking for beautiful dresses to wear. Unfortunately, I have had multiple surgeries on my feet because of a birth defect, and it’s really tough to find the shoes that I require (with little or no heel). In the summer, I can usually find sandals, but sandals don’t support my feet very well. I’ve grown accustomed to the pain in my feet, and can usually tune it out, but heels are out of the question. It looks odd to wear even a business outfit, much less the dresses I adore, with the shoes I have to wear. I can’t jog, and I’ll never sky-dive (to my regret), but at least I’m not in the wheelchair they predicted for me by age 35. If I have to wear goofy-looking shoes, it’s a small price to pay.
8. I love hats. I wish there were a wider variety of hats that were socially acceptable for women to wear. I used to have an extensive collection, but these days I only have a few. I have a blue felt floppy hat (that faintly reminds some people of Tom Petty as the Mad Hatter in that “Don’t Come Around Here No More” video) that has a blue velvet sashy sort of band. I have a black hat with a fake pearl clasp on one side, out of which spouts a curly feather. I have the sort of New England roll-up and put in your pocket flowerpot hat that you really can’t wear in Georgia, but it’s great for camping. I have a standard woven garden hat, and a tan hat with a lacy veil. I’m not counting the various absurd ski caps… I dug up some photos. In chronological order:

Your Hat Personality Is A

Beret

What Hat Are You?

Now, here are the 8 I’m tagging (in alpha order!):

• Gerald
• Jolly Roger
• Laureth
• Lord Matt
• Mary
• rev. billy bob gisher
• Todd (Hells Kitchen)
• Vance