There is a long and storied past to how memes are handled on the Shuck N Jive. So long and storied that I’d rather not get into it. My life is filled with so much more important things to do, no the least of which is convincing the few remaining readers that I have on this blog that I am still blogging. You’d think the easy way to do that would be to post more, but I’ve never been one to do things the easy way. Cadiz12 tagged me with this one, so you know there was pretty much no getting out of it. This meme involves the following: Grab the closest book (this was no easy task, I had to bust out the measuring tape and bring in three unbiased judges to confirm which book was, in fact, the closest. The streets were literally paved with biased judges, so it took me the better part of the weekend to find 3 who couldn’t give a crap one way or the other.) turn to page 123, go down to the 5th sentence and post the next 3 sentences along with the name of the book and the author. Then tag 3 people.
Before I begin, I’d like to ask that each person that leaves a comment on this post explain how and why they pronounce “meme.” I’m having some trouble with this one. I’ll let you know what the 2.71 cumulative GPA, BA in English thinks after I’ve seen a few responses. Then I’ll also let you know exactly how many grammatical errors there were in that last sentence.
Ok, here’s what you’ve been waiting for… (I’d like to request that everyone find a couple of pens or pencils in the nearby area and simulate some sort of a drum roll. Don’t worry about whether or not it will annoy anyone around you; just tell them I said it was ok. They won’t know who I am, but perhaps they’ll keep their mouths shut for fear of looking stupid because they don’t know who I am.)
With the exception of a chiropractor’s office, all of my jobs were residential, apartments and lofts I visited once a week or once every other week. The owners were usually off at work, and on the few occasions that they were home they tried to make themselves as unobtrusive as possible, acting as though it were my apartment and they were just guests.
One such client was a claims adjuster in his mid-sixties.
-Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris.
Ok, so that caught me between paragraphs, but the meme was pretty specific. I should also say that I was not yet at this page in the book, so it’s totally been ruined for me. Thanks, this was a great meme.
I also have a certain reputation to maintain when it comes to tagging on the memes. So I’ll go ahead and kill this one too. Unless, of course, someone really wants to do it. I know how it can be. Sometimes you’ve just got this killer book within arms reach and you can’t wait to point out to the internet that you’re reading it. So for you people, go for it. Knock yourselves out. I tag you in the name of the Society of Literary Braggarts.
12 comments:
When I first saw the word, I was pronouncing it as if it rhymed with "them."
The more I thought about it, and I do think about memes often, it occurred to me that pronouncing it that way doesn't follow the rules. The first E should have a long vowel sound, and the last should be silent. So recently, I've been pronouncing it MEEEEEM, purposely exaggerating the long E vowel sound.
It should also be noted that I've never actually had occasion to say the word out loud. So when I say how I pronounce it, I'm referring to how I pronounce it in my head.
Finally, I wanted to mention that you also ruined the book for me. Thanks.
I vote for a may-may pronunciation. Or possibly mem with a "short" e. Definitely not meeem, that's way too obvious to be correct. And I think the *point* of this particular meme was to ruin books, or at least try.
'maim' like the torture or 'mame' like the auntie.
y'all know david sedaris doesn't work.
Oh, I like "maim." I'll use that from now on. It's so appropriate.
I always say it mimi, like me-me (why did I write that twice?) which emphasizes narcissicsm(sp?) and makes me think of Mariah Carey.
the latter reason is why I will now opt for 'maim'.
Omar: Let’s be honest, you don’t really read, so I don’t think I ruined the book that much.
I think about the pronunciation of many things myself, but even more so, I think about how others pronounce them. I’m insane.
I’ve always pronounced meme as, “Charles.” As in “Charles in charge of our days and our nights.” But perhaps I was wrong.
Jam: I think the point of most memes is to ruin something or other, whether it be a book or an image of “cool” you’ve been trying so hard to portray in the blog world. I’ve been ruined many a time.
Cadiz: Torture is the most apt application of the word as far as I can tell. I think we’ll all be adopting this new pronunciation.
Omar: I agree.
Syar: Ok, secretly, I’ve always pronounced it me-me too, but I haven’t heard anyone else do this, so I was wondering if I was the only one. The bad news is that I’m legally insane, so if you and I are thinking alike, you may want to get tested. Sorry, those are the breaks.
Ps, we don’t deduct points for spelling, so you’re ok.
Huh. And I've always pronounced "Charles" as meme. Go figure.
great. now i have the 'charles in charge' theme going on in my head. thanks a lot, jon.
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i think jon's next post should be about how he ran away to join the circus.
That's way better than the monk who turned his back on the internet story. Circuses are fun.
i think he's going for a month's record. that must have been some vow to the circus gods...
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