March 30, 2005

• And the snow continues. Last night it came in sideways. Today it comes down sporatically, but heavily in chunks- like some snow god barfing. Let me remind you that he is barfing all over flowers and trees in bloom, and birds that at some point were chirping, and a disgustingly dirty duck pond, and poor innocent people trying to cross campus, etc. Oh well.
  
  

  How about a trip down memory lane.  Do any of you remember this painting from my sophomore year in high school (click the link).  Apparently it is still uploaded on the xanga database somewhere from when I had a trial subscription to xanga premium back in 2003.  I just noticed it was still on my list of pictures, and thought I’d summon it up.  Maybe I’ll be able to borrow a digital camera and get some recent work up here so you can see how much better I’ve gotten in the past 4 years.
  

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  Presenting the week’s Maglebyisms:
  
  My art history teacher likes to use big words. In and of itself it wouldn’t be a big deal, but he likes to use words that have never existed before, have never been used before in that way, have never been pronounced that way, and could be replaced with more logical (shorter) words. For Professor Magleby, less is not more. Why use a 3 syllable word when a 6 syllable word will suffice? And if a 6 syllable synonym doesn’t exist, why not put lots of words together in a strange phrase, or better yet, create a new word all together. And so this week Megan and I have compiled a list of these Maglebyisms for your enjoyment and use:
  

  
  

  Words that have never existed before:

  
  

  
  

  
  
  • “opticality”
    
    
  • “nearmechanization”
    
    
  • “foliative”
    
    
  • “folial”
    
    
  • “sinuateness”
    
    
  • “geometricize”

  Words that have never before been used in that way:
  

  
  
  • citizenry (in place of citizenship)
    
    
  • Jurassic (meaning uneven or unstable)
    
    
  • “of German extraction” (instead of German, or or German ancestry)
    
    
  • relicory (referring to a subway station)
    
    
  • perspectival (referring to a painting that uses perspective)
    
    
  • “lumbering along” (in reference to burning museams)

  Words that could have been replaced with less syllables:
  

  
  
  • grutuetesque (in place of grotesque, or pornographic)
    
    
  • “saturated primaries” (in place of bright colors)
    
    
  • “exuberant pastels” (what does that replace?)
    
    
  • “pervalavender line,” then later “pervalinear line” (linear line- redundant?)
    
    
  • “delineates the space” (?)
    
    
  • “coloristic swaths” (or just broad brushstrokes)
    
    
  • “liturgical costume of crosses” (referring to death)
    
    
  • architectonic (or we could just say architectural)
    
    
  • “abstractionist painting” (some just say it’s an abstract painting)
    
    
  • “a figural figure head” (redundant?)

  Words that have never been put together that way before (funny phrases):
  

  
  
  • “hierarchy of naughtiness”
    
    
  • “Mr. Potato Head components” (referring to a sculpture)
    
    
  • “he whips cream like a hogarth” (referring to a Doxan)
    
    
  • “A urinal does not spout water, right? It receives a spout . . .”
    
    
  • “It’s like the gift you receive and say, ‘Wow. Thanks. I don’t know how you esteem me based on this gift.’” (who would actually say that?).

  Boy did I have fun spell checking this post.
  

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  “I’m never speaking up again. it only hurts me. I’d rather be a mystery than she desert me . . . One more thing. Why is it my fault? So maybe I try too hard, But it’s all because of this desire. I just wanna be liked, I just wanna be funny. Looks like the jokes on me, So call me captain backfire.” (John Mayer, “My Stupid Mouth”)

  • 12:49 pm
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