And then Richard said:
"But there are no wrong jokes... or is that notes?"
This is why I like Richard. Whatever a petard is he hoisted me on mine.
When I was at university doing a paper in Anthropology there was an insufferable little oick in my tutorial who would say things like:
"I'd rather live in a mud hut."
And "It's all relative."
The most infuriating thing about saying "It's all relative" is that while it is true in a big there-is-no-God-and-everything-is-meaningless sort of way, it is also completely untrue because people invent systems that make perfectly good sense and just saying that everything is relative is a cop out or an excuse to do something naughty/hideously evil.
Then again, breaking rules is ok too. It's like students refusing to race in a race but walking around the track holding hands. Not for everyone ("That's why we won't win any Olympic medals"), but some people can see the point.
The point of my previous story was this: I know what it's like to go to something that everyone raves about and think it's rubbish. As long as you make your own mind up, informed by your own tastes and stick to them regardless of whether they happen to be with the majority or the minority then it's ok to stand up or to sit down at the end of a concert. I have stayed seated when everyone stood up; I have stood up when everyone stayed seated.
(While that's a good ending I would also like to add: I stood up when everyone stood up and stayed seated when everyone stayed seated, and stayed seated when quite a few people but definitely not everyone stood up... etc. You know what I mean. It's a metaphor damn it!)
7 comments:
I did actually get the point of your last post (I know you'll think I'm only fibbing in an attempt to appear intelligent; ah, but what, really, is intelligence?). Though, the reference to Parsons was totally irrelevent, whichever way you look at it. Perhaps Parsons has a special relevence that you've chosen not to share with us? Were you born in a back room there and lived between the books until you were three, or something? I learnt to march to my own drum beat early in life because, basically, I was a bit of an odd kid who never seemed to get things right. I suspect that quite a few of us were like that. Many is the time that I've chosen to stand up when everybody else was sitting. That's fine, as long as you're able to accept any consequences. Keeping rules or breaking them, what does it really matter (as the oick in your tutorial might have said)? I don't know what a petard is, but I'd guess it's like a little cage that is lifted high into the air while some poor twit is inside it. It doesn't really sound as bad as having a sharp spike inserted up your bottom though.
Is it all relative?
Ask this at Nuova Lazio High and I'm sure they'll reply,
"Not too bad!"
Your washing machine is a musical genius?
How very 1970s!
She worked in Parsons so she had her finger on the pulse of classical music snobbery and knew better than I how badly Helfgott was being received whereas I just believed the movie was true.
A petard is a kind of medieval mortar apparently. I looked it up on Wiki. Which explains nothing.
Can you be dehoisted?
Shelley said a petard was a thing for blowing doors open.
Just back from playing at the folk club. I don't like to boast but:
A lady told me that, while I was playing, she heard someone behind her say,
"I'm glad I wasn't one of the bass players who played in the other groups!"
I sometimes show off when I play...well, most times. That isn't good. Ornie didn't show off when he played the violin.
I think it would be a good time for me to get over Ornie.
It's great that Cathy worked at Parsons, but I still don't see how it fitted in to the story, necessity wise.
If you want to experience what people are really like, walk naked down a street.
Is there a more accurate guide to human nature?
Some people on the street will ignore you, while others will see you as a freak. Some will be embarrased. Some will applaud your action. A few will attempt to detain you to find out what caused you to perform this task that is basically against the way that things should be done.
I went to an Ornette Coleman concert on Friday night. To be honest, I didn't really enjoy it. I bet Ornette would be a guy who would walk naked down a street. I admire him for that.
I just looked up petard on an online dictionary. You may be interested to know that it is some kind of small bomb made of a metal or wooden box filled with powder. Personally, I was particularly interested to find that its origin is from the French "peter" - to break wind.
Does that mean that people called Peter are really just Farts in French???
Cathy, I've moved on from petards.
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