Anybody? Me, Neither... *Stands up and applaudes Will Self* A living testament to the phrase "If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit".
I agree entirely. I love the english language and don`t want it to die out or diminish because the average person can`t be bothered to widen their vocabulary and use such wonderful colorful words!
BlibBlabBlob yes I know!! when I said "he needs to expand his vocabulary" I was being SARCASTIC. Do you understand what sarcasm is? I'm trying to expand YOUR vocabulary, and your mind.
I don't think Will should dumb himself down, not that he would no matter what anyone thought, but sometimes in cases like this, it seems like he's using those kinds of words and phrases for the sole purpose of confusing and slightly alienating people. he doesn't need to 'dumb down', but if his vocabulary is so wide, i'm sure he can think of many more words to use, that include everyone in the understanding of his point.
Just think about it though - there are about 36,000 people who've seen the video. Presumably all in the UK. At least a quarter of them will forget (and I, like many other people I'm sure, have watched this quite a few times) so, call it 20,000 people who could potentially 'get' it. It'd be a great way to meet people worth speaking to, anyway. Oh, and if you actually do do this, print me one too!
Why did he use 'epiphenomenal' when he did? He makes so many good points, but he ruins it all by trying to impress. Being a big Will Self fan, this happens at least once an interview, and it's very annoying...
any cell phone can be tapped at any time by the agencies...thats why we have accepted cell phones so readily,tapping and publishing is a smoke screen to this fact..people believe what they want to believe and its usually what they are told or read,i personally like and respect will self -his books are a bit nuts and so is he,but he keeps it real-hes not brain washed.
Perhaps he sees it as having use in a promotion of the government and their current deployment of troops and not a symbol of remembrance, seeing as they become part of the uniform of politicians. Perhaps he sees it as not illustrating a needless waste of lives and horror of war but national pride in the fortunate outcome paid for by those that were in many cases wasted and sacrificed by politicians.
It is very different than someone making reference to 16th century English and works of fiction. The man is a writer how far would he get if he could not represent his opinions through a considerably varied vocabulary. I would not pay to read "durrrrrr, you know what I mean" 50 times in any article. How would you like to read a piece by Joe Bloggs, a proper talker who used "errrrm" instead of a full stop.
his sesquipedalianism is impressive, but he is basically shining the dazzling light of his intellect into the deepest recesses of his rectum - all he says is to repeat the statement that we are all to blame in a dozen different ways in self-pleased lugubrious tones. And while he may know a lot of big words, he doesn't know how to pronounce them (it's pronounced imbrolyo not imbrogleeo)
language is a means to do a lot of things and scales of comprehension are of little value over a mass audience media like tv when anyone can be watching. When conveying the idea of rocket science it is inappropriate to consider reader comprehension over the reality of the information required. Who said that language use has to be easy. Affair is in no way more apt here, it doesn't convey the complication of involvement on many levels..
When working in a team of people, using long or obscure language leads to a bad working environment. Colleagues either have to chalenge what you say to explain, which can be an embarrassing thing for someone to do or they say nothing and cultivate and nurture a resentment against you. I'm trying to find Will Selfs explanation for refusing to wear a poppy and help would be appreciated :)
With due respect to Will Self, yes the people have been weak over tabloids. But there was a time when the tabloids were not what they have now become. And that shift happened well *before* the current "tectonic" one -- assuming there even is a real tectonic one now. Sure, I devoutly wish the public would say no to the red tops. But Murdoch used them to corrupt. The job was all too easy, but that doesn't change the fact of who really profited from the corruption, and at whose expense.
whilst being embroiled in an eponymous charge towards faux egalitarian ideology led by demigogic principles. Let's not go onto the prurience err I mean jurisprudence of it.
OOMG musmnet vs. Will Self. No wonder Boyd is wearing the safety goggles. I also love how Boyd tries to up his game to Selfishness but doesn't really cut the mustard. Coogan makes the best point though: there's investigative titillation (think telephoto boob shots) ... and then there's vicious exploitation (phone hacking).
I thought people were just being stupid and perhaps over-exaggerating his pretentious vocab usage but I literally heard several words (or combination of) for the first time here. Imbroglio, epiphenomenal, prurience... and lastly "demagogic faux egalitarianism". Sadly he threw away any earned respect by saying QED. Even Steve Coogan threw in damascene conversion in order to impress.
I'm with you. Can't agree with anyone who says pandering to a shrinking vocabulary is the best way to communicate. I've seen a little chart recently of the complexity of language in US presidential addresses. You can guess whether Jefferson or Dubya was the more complex. At the time of the French Revolution, Burke and Paine were being read in pubs. Imagine that kind of language in a pub now! I say no to dumbing down. Send them to the dictionary Will. Make people learn stuff.
kundalinipsych At the same time, the English language flowered a brilliant lexicon of cant and working class patois. I don't see why both can't exist, really. People are too afraid.
