March 31, 2009

Relatable

I hate it when perfectly nice people say irritating things. They might talk about the "drinkability" of some piss beer. They might say "and et cetera." Or they might describe things to which one might relate as "relatable."

When I'm sitting in a meeting of people (often not from the academic side of the house) who talk about this situation or that textbook as being "relatable," I just want to say, "Oh, it's relatable? Then go ahead and RELATE IT."

Look: the Iliad and the Odyssey are "relatable" in that they are stories that one might relate. "The Three Little Pigs" is relatable ... not because one might identify with this or that little piggy, but because one might relate, or recount, a children's story. First Year Seminar is not relatable. A Practical Introduction to Literary Study is not relatable. (Shameless, I know, but at least there's no hyperlink.)

My cousin, in contrast, is not relatable, relative though she be. E equals emmereffin' emcee squared isn't relatable, though it is related to relativity. Get it?

Folks, the boulder that is the English language is rolling down the hill, and all we can do is throw ourselves in front of it to slow its inevitable downward momentum. Come all you sissified Sisypheans: can you relate?

5 comments:

Michael said...

Totally relatable, dude. (You knew someone was going to do this, probably some piss ant like me)

JB said...

Thanks. I've been trolling for comments, as you can tell, ever since the second linked version of And It Stoned Me in my earlier post failed to provoke anything. I appreciate the validation!

Anonymous said...

I hate et cetera, but I hate it even more when it appears in written dialogue as "etc." AGH! How exactly do you pronounce "etc."?

I still hate "utilize."

As of late, the worst of all is "entitled." My latest article/book/screenplay is entitled "Sawbuck."

Nothing worse than an entitled screenplay -- they can be such douchebags.

Code word: ackrand

JB said...

People saying "et cetera" is bad enough ... but for the record, I was referring to people saying "AND et cetera," which is repetitive, redundant, and repetitive.

Michael said...

and of course the countless college freshmen who write it as "ect." Perhaps they mean "ectoplasm"?