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I now lack the juice to fuel the bluster to conceal that I am a simpleton

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Re: I now lack the juice to fuel the bluster to conceal that I am a simpleton

#51

Post by adamisom »

wolverine876 wrote: post #49

In a long true account of a dust-up at a restaurant in old Austin, not new Austin, a Black man on my roofing crew came to my defense and knocked out a white restaurant manager, who was at the moment presuming to assault me. Willie had noticed that the manager had Black back-up and felt I should too. “Old Padge need him some brothers too,” he would explain later. The piece was essentially a portrait of a hero, Willie…

>Snark is a signal of cheap argument: They have nothing more serious to say

They may well have something more serious to say, and it doesn't imply a weak argument in itself. I think it's fair to say the author does have something more serious to say; the question, really, is do you. All you've done is reduced the OP to the same tired discourse, and proclaimed which side you're on, but you know, there really is more to the linked essay than that.

Re: I now lack the juice to fuel the bluster to conceal that I am a simpleton

#52

Post by hprotagonist »

wolverine876 wrote: post #49

In a long true account of a dust-up at a restaurant in old Austin, not new Austin, a Black man on my roofing crew came to my defense and knocked out a white restaurant manager, who was at the moment presuming to assault me. Willie had noticed that the manager had Black back-up and felt I should too. “Old Padge need him some brothers too,” he would explain later. The piece was essentially a portrait of a hero, Willie…

> Snark is a signal of cheap argument: They have nothing more serious to say;

and the traditional riposte as shown here is smarm: https://web.archive.org/web/20131207011820/https://gawker.co...

What is this defining feature of our times? What is snark reacting to?

It is reacting to smarm.

What is smarm, exactly? Smarm is a kind of performance—an assumption of the forms of seriousness, of virtue, of constructiveness, without the substance. Smarm is concerned with appropriateness and with tone. Smarm disapproves.

Smarm would rather talk about anything other than smarm. Why, smarm asks, can't everyone just be nicer?

The existence of a “sensitivity editor” more or less defines smarm, so the reaction is fairly natural.

Re: I now lack the juice to fuel the bluster to conceal that I am a simpleton

#53

Post by roughly »

> I received an email from a colleague who wanted me to talk to the Dean that opened, “Is it time for us to have a chat with the dean? Are we remembering what was promised us, last spring, at lunch? Are we going to let history repeat itself?” I suffered pique at this and wrote back, “Are your emotions pure? Are your nerves adjustable? How do you stand in relation to the potato? Should it still be Constantinople?”

Lord, this paragraph gave me life. This is why we need Academia - somewhere needs be a shelter for the people with both the wit to write this response and the job security to actually send it, if only to provide the rest of us with the solace of knowing it exists.

Re: I now lack the juice to fuel the bluster to conceal that I am a simpleton

#54

Post by Jun8 »

glassconclusion wrote: post #47
Jun8 wrote: post #2

This is a fantastic interview with Padgett Powell ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padgett_Powell ), a writer of the Southern tradition. IMO, the two things that make it great ar how candid and fluid Powell's answers are and the hilariously Newspeak of the interviewer's questions. Powell was Don Barthelme's student, his analysis of Barthelme's main thrust here is worth the read alone. If you want to dig deeper on this…

I really like the short story Typical. It is one of my favorite short stories.

So do I! In fact I searched for Powell this morning, after lazily taking down my 1990 Best American Short Stories collection, which was where I first encountered “Typical” and his unique voice.

Re: I now lack the juice to fuel the bluster to conceal that I am a simpleton

#55

Post by l33tbro »

wolverine876 wrote: post #49

In a long true account of a dust-up at a restaurant in old Austin, not new Austin, a Black man on my roofing crew came to my defense and knocked out a white restaurant manager, who was at the moment presuming to assault me. Willie had noticed that the manager had Black back-up and felt I should too. “Old Padge need him some brothers too,” he would explain later. The piece was essentially a portrait of a hero, Willie…

Snark is also fun and is often a welcome reprieve from serious argument.

Re: I now lack the juice to fuel the bluster to conceal that I am a simpleton

#56

Post by jimbokun »

wolverine876 wrote: post #49

In a long true account of a dust-up at a restaurant in old Austin, not new Austin, a Black man on my roofing crew came to my defense and knocked out a white restaurant manager, who was at the moment presuming to assault me. Willie had noticed that the manager had Black back-up and felt I should too. “Old Padge need him some brothers too,” he would explain later. The piece was essentially a portrait of a hero, Willie…

What’s the word for snark in response to snark? Like your post.

Re: I now lack the juice to fuel the bluster to conceal that I am a simpleton

#57

Post by galaxyLogic »

kleiba wrote: post #7
ailun wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not really "Newspeak" at all; if anything, it's the opposite. Newspeak had limited vocabulary. The interviewer is using a bunch of ten-dollar words. Still, interesting interview! I might read some Padgett Powell at some point because of this.

The little info box about the interviewer at the end of the article tells you all you need to know.

"The little info box about the interviewer at the end of the article tells you all you need to know."

That is a very round-about way of saying something negative about this article. Why not say straight out what you think is wrong with it? Why not? Maybe because it is easier for some people to agree with you when you don't present any actual facts.

What does that little info-box say? And why do you think that is ALL we need to know?

Re: I now lack the juice to fuel the bluster to conceal that I am a simpleton

#58

Post by simplyluke »

Jun8 wrote: post #2

This is a fantastic interview with Padgett Powell ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padgett_Powell ), a writer of the Southern tradition. IMO, the two things that make it great ar how candid and fluid Powell's answers are and the hilariously Newspeak of the interviewer's questions. Powell was Don Barthelme's student, his analysis of Barthelme's main thrust here is worth the read alone. If you want to dig deeper on this…

I found this interview almost unreadable, but I'm also quite sure I'm not the target audience for it despite being a pretty avid reader.

Re: I now lack the juice to fuel the bluster to conceal that I am a simpleton

#59

Post by tyingq »

basil-rash wrote: post #48
mrkstu wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you’re going for some meta-joke, no.

Why not? If we’re starting with this nautical analogy (unmoored), immediately flipping to a biological one is odd. I strongly suspect this was a transcription error and/or intentional pun - the two are pronounced identically.

It almost works, but "berthed" doesn't imply "created", since it means something more like "parked".

So that doesn't read right with:

"The destiny of all books is to become unmoored from the time which birthed them. - Ah-Sen"

It could have used both maybe? "...and then berthed in the present"

Re: I now lack the juice to fuel the bluster to conceal that I am a simpleton

#60

Post by adammarples »

standardly wrote: post #17
consumer451 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting, neither Google, nor GPT-4 know anything about that term, outside of TFA.

He clearly made it up during the interview. I admit I spent more time right clicking -> 'search the web' for some of the words he used. Incredible vocabulary.. I have to use 'intellection' soon, I've needed to use a word like that before but couldn't find it.

well you could use understanding
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