close

Discovered in

Find other sites about

Related Sites

  • The Cunning Linguist: Remembering George Carlins literary genius - Reason Magazine

    Reason Magazine - The Cunning Linguist From The Page: In fact, Carlin was disgusted with the mangling of English for any reason. He hated anyone who pronounced forte as "for-tay," insisted that "no comment is a comment," and advised us that "unique needs no modifier;... more

    Reviewed by roslyn217 Jun 24 2008, 09:37am ( 14 reviews ) • reason.com

    3,606 views
  • Showing 10 of 14
  • Reviews of the site
  • Join StumbleUpon or login to add a review! default avatar

  • Rated by roslyn217 on Jun 24 2008, 9:37am

    Reason Magazine - The Cunning Linguist From The Page: In fact, Carlin was disgusted with the mangling of English for any reason. He hated anyone who pronounced forte as "for-tay," insisted that "no comment is a comment," and advised us that "unique needs no modifier; very unique, quite unique, more unique, real unique, fairly unique, and extremely unique are wrong and they mark you as dumb, although certainly not unique." For all of his lifelong ranting against conservatism, Carlin was a diehard traditionalist when it came to grammar and vocabulary. This mastery of the language allowed Carlin to craft his puns ("Soft rock music isn't rock, and it ain't music...it's just soft," "I thought it would be nice to get a job at a duty-free shop, but it doesn't sound like there's a whole lot to do in a place like that"), but also gave him the ability to see how we pad our existences with pleasant lies. In Carlin's mind, language should not be safe, and neither should life. Children, he argued in his final HBO special, this year's It's Bad for Ya, should play with sticks, not have "play dates" under the ever-watchful eyes of overprotective, micro-managing parents. (He had previously complained, with his trademark growl, "We've taken all the fun out of childhood just in the interest of saving a few lives.") Near the end of his career, Carlin was more bitter than funny--It's Bad for Ya is a righteous tirade that provokes more nods than laughs--but he never lost his unparalleled ability to play with words. He deconstructed the phrases that we use absentmindedly, exposing our hypocrisies--and our human condition--in the process. He was a comic genius because he was a linguistic master. As Carlin said in his most famous routine: "I thank you for hearing my words... They're my work, they're my play, they're my passion. Words are all we have, really." http://www.reason.com/news/show/127137.html

  • Rated by keflash on Jun 23 2008, 8:35pm

    You will be missed George. RIP

  • Rated by dean0null on Jun 23 2008, 5:56pm

    Reasonable news

  • Rated by Neoscryer on Jun 23 2008, 5:44pm

    I loved George Carlin, really, but I've stumbled upon WAY too many things about him in the past 5 minutes alone. RIP, George. Just stop spamming my stumbles.

  • Rated by Rodger89 on Jun 23 2008, 5:31pm

    good article on a bill in the senate that will require many online vendors to report transactions to us government

  • Rated by Blissfulpain on Jun 23 2008, 1:15pm

    George Carlin died of heart failure on Sunday June 22nd 2008 :(