For starters, I have a tendency to wax namby-pamby in my scribblings. I almost never do that in person, or in conversation. I try to uphold the standard set by my stalwart, stoic, upstanding father, who never talks about all those "girly" things like feelings, and impressions, and beauty, and soul-massage stimuli. I attempt to; sometimes I fail. Show me a sunset and you're going to hear my best shot at first-draft poetry. Give me a cool day in fall and I'm going to stumble about spewing complimentary meteorological platitudes. Give me a girlfriend and you might hear me whisper some of the mushiest stuff imaginable in her ear. Be that as it may, I tend to get a lot more philosophical (or just plain sentimental) when I write. Be aware of that.
Second, despite the self-enforced lack of swearing in this blog, I actually am—and have been for some time—violently profane. I was once a lingual teetotaler, never daring to say anything worse than "dang" or even the second "b-word" (synonymous with "illegitimate son"). In college and after, I loosened up. I now have no compunction about spouting obscenities. I'm still a little leery of the c-word (The Big One, as it were) but I'll use it in quotes without any fuss. Everything else (f-bombs to b-words to s-h-dash-dash to h-e double toothpicks) is all up for grabs.
Finally, because this is neither a political nor a religious blog and I haven't really mentioned many of my personal beliefs in detail anywhere, I think I ought to delineate for you my political and religious affiliations. I am a slightly liberal conservative (registered as an Independent), and have been an atheist for half my life. I see no reason to quit being either. I hope that clears up a few things around here.
7 comments:
Thanks for sharing this. I like it.
I've been thinking about the same thing. I've actually been considering posting about all the things people don't see about me on my blog. You beat me to it. If I do it now, it'll look like I'm copying you.
I would not say that you wax "namby-pamby." Indeed not.
I've wondered about the swearing thing. Are you really violently profane? That's very amusing. I can be pretty potty-mouthed myself, and I've let a little of that come out in this forum, but not as much as in "real" life.
My mad genius linguistics professor, who I believe I've already mentioned to you, ordered a book for the university library that was all about the etymology of the F word, and even just had that word as its title. A few of the librarians weren't happy about it.
I'm not sure what a slightly liberal conservative is, but I have a hard time taking politics seriously, so I'm not going to worry about it. Unless you want to explain it further. I once took an online quiz about my political "position" that placed me in the same quadrant as Gandhi. Whatever that means.
Obviously, I have a religious nature, but I hope my blog doesn't seem like a "religious" blog overall. I think of it as more philosophical, and since I'm an armchair theologian, that definitely comes into it. But I'm also not a small-minded fundamentalist, so I have no problem with you being an atheist.
Can we still be friends, you think?
Go ahead! You're not copying. Say you were inspired.
Well, okay, maybe I'm just violently profane with friends. And family, too. Now that I'm over the age of consent my parents finally relaxed Mother's Tightly Enforced No-Swearing Rules. The rest of the time I'm pretty civil.
Oh boy. Yes, you've mentioned your mad genius linguistics professor, but up until this point I wasn't exactly clear on why he was mad. Thanks for clearing that up. That sounds like a bit of a (heh heh heh) SNAFU.
Well, as I see it, I'm a political conservative with a trickle of liberal views (I've no objection to homosexual marriage, for example.) But I hate pigeonholing and categorizing, particularly where politics is concerned, so I rarely talk about it. Hence its mention in the un-disclaimer.
Gandhi? I could see that. You both seem to have the same concern for life in its myriad beautiful forms.
No, no, I've no objection to religious blogs, or religion in general. On the contrary, I have great respect for it. (One of my friends runs a Christian blog, Thorns. It's on the right.) Yours isn't overtly religious, but there are definite philosophical overtones.
I think we're friends already.
Just to clarify - the professor is a "she." She's got a voice like someone who drinks and smokes too much, and, truth be told, she's more the kind of person you'd expect to see next to you on a barstool in Arkansas, throwing the F word around, than in a classroom.
I am totally with you about the pigeonholing thing. One of my major problems with politics is the us vs. them mentality.
I'm off to check out your friend's blog.
I can appreciate the post and that you are clearly talented..and multi-layered. And soul massage....this will be one of my new favorite concepts.
Whoops! I pigeonholed someone! That's my fault. When I think "professor" I automatically think "masculine."
I sure wish we had something other than a two-party political system here in the States. Like a multi-party system. That way the bickering wouldn't be so two-sided.
Thanks! He'll appreciate that.
JennyMac! I'm honored. Thank you for stopping in...and the encouraging words.
I happen to swear a lot myself, but I hate to do it in writing. I want every word I use to have weight, and if I use too many swear words, what will I do when I really need one and want it to have a killer punch?
That's just what my Mom says. What's the point in swearing all the time if, right when you really NEED an expletive, its effect has been deadened with overuse? Although I will admit that, in conversation at least, there is some satisfaction in casual, frequent profanity.
The odd thing is that I do this ONLY in conversation. If I stub my toe and no one is around, I invariably think to myself, "Darn."
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