Writer's Block: Are you incentivized?
Apr. 26th, 2010 09:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tabular_rasa[Error: unknown template qotd]
At the moment all I can think of are the ones that have to do with realty and selling houses, like:
Won't last long! I know you mean on the market, but it sounds like I'm supposed to hurry up and buy the house before it gets hit by a tornado or collapses from its termite infestation.
This little cream puff . . . It's a house, not a dessert, and way to alienate the 50% of your market who have a Y chromosome.
Mr. Clean lives here! If the house is already occupied, I'd rather not walk into a squatter lawsuit, thank you.
Otherwise, I'm having a hard time differentiating between "catchphrases" and just "expressions I hate." To go into all the expressions I hate would take a while, but here's a small sampling:
In English
Get over it/Deal with it. This is the most useless piece of advice ever. *Getting over* and *dealing with* things is a long process; it does not happen instantly according to other people's whims. Way to encourage forced silence, bottling, repression, and other unhealthy emotional coping mechanisms that will probably give you cancer.
Whatever. This usually means one of two things: I don't care, or I really do care but I'm being a passive-aggressive bitch. Both sentiments (apathy and passive-aggressiveness) piss me off. Stop it.
You don't know me/Don't judge me. It's not so much the phrase itself that bugs me but the context in which people use it, which is invariably when they know you have made a good point and have them cornered but they don't want to accept it or continue with their losing argument.
Have your cake and eat it too. I've ranted about this one before. This expression does nothing but confuse me. To me, eating directly implies having, therefore suggesting the two cannot coexist is an impossible duality. The expression should be "You can't eat your cake now and save it for later." That's clear and less annoying.
Falling head over heels. I've also ranted about this one. This isn't much of a fall if your head remains staunchly above your heels. I mean, your head is over your heels when you're standing or sitting. So if you fall head over heels, your fall is pretty controlled, like a cat's. Maybe you just jumped off a step or something.
In Japanese
Whatever the fuck Edo Harumi is doing. Actually, any of this style of Japanese comedy, which pretty much revolves around gimmicky catchphrases and poses. At first I assumed there was a language/culture barrier that kept me from understanding, but Reiko assures me there's really nothing to understand. Kiyotaka at age 6 pissed himself over this sort of thing. I think that pretty much sums up the caliber of comedy right there, lol.
Shikata ga nai Best translation is something like "It can't be helped"-- think "Que sera sera" or "C'est la vie." I don't like resignation as a coping strategy. Plus one too many internment camp novels has me forever associating this phrase with quietly being miserable in desert camps. Most Jews aren't as into the whole turn-the-other-cheek thing after the Holocaust; maybe it's time to put shikata ga nai away as well.
Gaman shite "Suck it up," basically. If I don't like "Get over it" or "Deal with it" in English, why would I like it in Japanese?
I'm not good at sucking it up and dealing with things, am I?-- or, well, at least not without complaining :-P
And as I have read the other responses to this prompt, I have become increasingly glad I do not work in business or politics. I swear all they ever do is make up bullshit words. That said, in my Education classes we learned tons of lovely catchphrasery, but I've gratefully repressed most of it for the moment. Ask me in a couple years, assuming I get some sort of job.
In other news, today there was an awkward amusing moment during a game of Kind Of Taboo, in which I give hints in English and the kids have to guess the English word. My hint was, "I live in the sea, and I am delicious to eat." The first kid suggested "whale," and the next kid guessed, "dolphin"-- and then the teacher stepped in and scolded, "Guys, don't you watch the news? The rest of the world is mad at Japan for hunting whales and dolphins, so if she says it's delicious IT'S NOT GOING TO BE WHALE OR DOLPHIN." The next kid correctly guessed "fish." Lol.
And, to finish off the all-over-the-place randomness of this entry, a poll:
[Poll #1556412]
I notice just about everyone in Japan seems to do the run-alongside-and-hop-on technique, where I was taught by my parents when I was learning to climb on, adjust the right pedal so it's at about 2:00, and then push down to give the bike some momentum-- and that's what I've continued to do. I'm not sure if it's a cultural thing or a personal-preference thing or what.
At the moment all I can think of are the ones that have to do with realty and selling houses, like:
Won't last long! I know you mean on the market, but it sounds like I'm supposed to hurry up and buy the house before it gets hit by a tornado or collapses from its termite infestation.
This little cream puff . . . It's a house, not a dessert, and way to alienate the 50% of your market who have a Y chromosome.
Mr. Clean lives here! If the house is already occupied, I'd rather not walk into a squatter lawsuit, thank you.
Otherwise, I'm having a hard time differentiating between "catchphrases" and just "expressions I hate." To go into all the expressions I hate would take a while, but here's a small sampling:
In English
Get over it/Deal with it. This is the most useless piece of advice ever. *Getting over* and *dealing with* things is a long process; it does not happen instantly according to other people's whims. Way to encourage forced silence, bottling, repression, and other unhealthy emotional coping mechanisms that will probably give you cancer.
Whatever. This usually means one of two things: I don't care, or I really do care but I'm being a passive-aggressive bitch. Both sentiments (apathy and passive-aggressiveness) piss me off. Stop it.
You don't know me/Don't judge me. It's not so much the phrase itself that bugs me but the context in which people use it, which is invariably when they know you have made a good point and have them cornered but they don't want to accept it or continue with their losing argument.
Have your cake and eat it too. I've ranted about this one before. This expression does nothing but confuse me. To me, eating directly implies having, therefore suggesting the two cannot coexist is an impossible duality. The expression should be "You can't eat your cake now and save it for later." That's clear and less annoying.
Falling head over heels. I've also ranted about this one. This isn't much of a fall if your head remains staunchly above your heels. I mean, your head is over your heels when you're standing or sitting. So if you fall head over heels, your fall is pretty controlled, like a cat's. Maybe you just jumped off a step or something.
In Japanese
Whatever the fuck Edo Harumi is doing. Actually, any of this style of Japanese comedy, which pretty much revolves around gimmicky catchphrases and poses. At first I assumed there was a language/culture barrier that kept me from understanding, but Reiko assures me there's really nothing to understand. Kiyotaka at age 6 pissed himself over this sort of thing. I think that pretty much sums up the caliber of comedy right there, lol.
Shikata ga nai Best translation is something like "It can't be helped"-- think "Que sera sera" or "C'est la vie." I don't like resignation as a coping strategy. Plus one too many internment camp novels has me forever associating this phrase with quietly being miserable in desert camps. Most Jews aren't as into the whole turn-the-other-cheek thing after the Holocaust; maybe it's time to put shikata ga nai away as well.
Gaman shite "Suck it up," basically. If I don't like "Get over it" or "Deal with it" in English, why would I like it in Japanese?
I'm not good at sucking it up and dealing with things, am I?-- or, well, at least not without complaining :-P
And as I have read the other responses to this prompt, I have become increasingly glad I do not work in business or politics. I swear all they ever do is make up bullshit words. That said, in my Education classes we learned tons of lovely catchphrasery, but I've gratefully repressed most of it for the moment. Ask me in a couple years, assuming I get some sort of job.
In other news, today there was an awkward amusing moment during a game of Kind Of Taboo, in which I give hints in English and the kids have to guess the English word. My hint was, "I live in the sea, and I am delicious to eat." The first kid suggested "whale," and the next kid guessed, "dolphin"-- and then the teacher stepped in and scolded, "Guys, don't you watch the news? The rest of the world is mad at Japan for hunting whales and dolphins, so if she says it's delicious IT'S NOT GOING TO BE WHALE OR DOLPHIN." The next kid correctly guessed "fish." Lol.
And, to finish off the all-over-the-place randomness of this entry, a poll:
[Poll #1556412]
I notice just about everyone in Japan seems to do the run-alongside-and-hop-on technique, where I was taught by my parents when I was learning to climb on, adjust the right pedal so it's at about 2:00, and then push down to give the bike some momentum-- and that's what I've continued to do. I'm not sure if it's a cultural thing or a personal-preference thing or what.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-04-26 01:15 pm (UTC)M1k3Mike and I pass by on the way to the local casinos. (This was the best snap I could get of it; I'll try harder next weekend.) To the left of the guy is his name--Mark Durocher or something to that effect--and the text underneath reads, "Taller Than Most Sand Castles." That's it! No logo or anything useful anywhere.Google tells me the guy might be a host on WNIT. If that's him, though, whoever made the ad hit the Don't Hold Back button in Photoshop.
As you were.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-26 01:33 pm (UTC)The awkward/amusing story cracked me up.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-27 05:10 am (UTC)Love the whale/dolphin/fish story. Brilliant!! (Also because it fits the title as "kind of taboo"!!)
no subject
Date: 2010-04-27 05:17 pm (UTC)