So, anyway....
Overcast again all day. Our high was 67F. Warm, but dismal.
I was up before 5 a.m., but somehow got nothing done. Not really. I sit here thinking about the sledge hammer. I stare at The Night Watchers, and I see how it can be much better, but I have to have the courage to weild that sledge hammer. I have to stop worrying that it's the wrong decision.
After that....well, I could list the minutiae, but who gives a shit, right? Not me.
But here are a couple of things that I posted on Facebook that generated a little discussion:
I am very annoyed by the "You're not wrong" thing. It just seems so very passive-agressive. Like, "I do not want to admit you're right...but you're not wrong." If you think someone is right, say so; do not use something that comes off like a backhanded compliment.
~ and ~
However much I may be annoyed by "You're not wrong," it is a small, small thing compared to my annoyance with and bafflement at the astoundingly childish "That is not okay," as opposed to simply, "That's wrong" (for example). Again, there's an odd sense of passive-agreessiveness at work here, an unwillingness to speak your mind, a hedging of bets, or....something. It is often spoken with dire seriousness, though. Anyway, I am quite sure this is another thing my 59.5-year-old brain just doesn't understand. I suppose this is pretty much the same as someone when I was in high school, say 1978, say, "That's not cool." But I never said that, either.
To which Boris Tomko replied - and I hope he's cool with me quoting him; I just really think he hit the nail on the head:
I think one of the reasons we are always telling people that's not OK is because we are juvenilizing everything. It's as if we are talking to toddlers. The maturity level has dropped so low. We have reinforced the idea that we have to tell people what's ok and not ok because it's too difficult to explain right from wrong.
To which I then said, Yes. I always imagine someone talking to a muppet on Sesame Street.
See, here's the thing. Sure, I'm a pedantic asshole at the best of times. But I am a writer. And writers listen to languange. They listen to what people say and try to understand what they mean (and people absolutely do not always say what they mean or mean what they say). Add that to our society being increasingly devoid of nuance. So, yeah. To me, this is all a big deal. And it's especially difficult in my case, because yes, I am not young, and much of this arises from the last couple of generations. But social media being what it is, it breaks the usual flow of slang, the natural dispersal, slinging it everywhere at once. Hyperslang? But I don't do this to annoy people. I simply need to know. It's my job. There is a reason I have begun setting all my stories (and The Night Watchers) before 1999. I can make a lot more sense of language from the 1900s and 1800s than I can of much of what is said in 2023.
Also, this should not offend people, that the way they speak is questioned. This is why we have linguists. And writers. And you should think about why you say what you say instead of saying something else. It's not an insult.
I'm so tired all the time. I tried to watch Fringe last night, but I just kept dozing off.
Anyway, blah, blah, fuckity blah, please visit the Dreaming Squid shop. Thanks. Oh, and I have many Cthulhus, but Spooky recently found the cutest Cthulhu ever, below.
Later Tater Bugs,
Aunt Beast

12:49 p.m.
I was up before 5 a.m., but somehow got nothing done. Not really. I sit here thinking about the sledge hammer. I stare at The Night Watchers, and I see how it can be much better, but I have to have the courage to weild that sledge hammer. I have to stop worrying that it's the wrong decision.
After that....well, I could list the minutiae, but who gives a shit, right? Not me.
But here are a couple of things that I posted on Facebook that generated a little discussion:
I am very annoyed by the "You're not wrong" thing. It just seems so very passive-agressive. Like, "I do not want to admit you're right...but you're not wrong." If you think someone is right, say so; do not use something that comes off like a backhanded compliment.
~ and ~
However much I may be annoyed by "You're not wrong," it is a small, small thing compared to my annoyance with and bafflement at the astoundingly childish "That is not okay," as opposed to simply, "That's wrong" (for example). Again, there's an odd sense of passive-agreessiveness at work here, an unwillingness to speak your mind, a hedging of bets, or....something. It is often spoken with dire seriousness, though. Anyway, I am quite sure this is another thing my 59.5-year-old brain just doesn't understand. I suppose this is pretty much the same as someone when I was in high school, say 1978, say, "That's not cool." But I never said that, either.
To which Boris Tomko replied - and I hope he's cool with me quoting him; I just really think he hit the nail on the head:
I think one of the reasons we are always telling people that's not OK is because we are juvenilizing everything. It's as if we are talking to toddlers. The maturity level has dropped so low. We have reinforced the idea that we have to tell people what's ok and not ok because it's too difficult to explain right from wrong.
To which I then said, Yes. I always imagine someone talking to a muppet on Sesame Street.
See, here's the thing. Sure, I'm a pedantic asshole at the best of times. But I am a writer. And writers listen to languange. They listen to what people say and try to understand what they mean (and people absolutely do not always say what they mean or mean what they say). Add that to our society being increasingly devoid of nuance. So, yeah. To me, this is all a big deal. And it's especially difficult in my case, because yes, I am not young, and much of this arises from the last couple of generations. But social media being what it is, it breaks the usual flow of slang, the natural dispersal, slinging it everywhere at once. Hyperslang? But I don't do this to annoy people. I simply need to know. It's my job. There is a reason I have begun setting all my stories (and The Night Watchers) before 1999. I can make a lot more sense of language from the 1900s and 1800s than I can of much of what is said in 2023.
Also, this should not offend people, that the way they speak is questioned. This is why we have linguists. And writers. And you should think about why you say what you say instead of saying something else. It's not an insult.
I'm so tired all the time. I tried to watch Fringe last night, but I just kept dozing off.
Anyway, blah, blah, fuckity blah, please visit the Dreaming Squid shop. Thanks. Oh, and I have many Cthulhus, but Spooky recently found the cutest Cthulhu ever, below.
Later Tater Bugs,
Aunt Beast

12:49 p.m.