Nonplussed
Is there any word more awkward than "nonplussed?"
Well, maybe. But let's deconstruct it anyway.
To be "plussed" would insinuate addition, perhaps an improvement on something that already exists. But who goes around saying "Oh yeah, I'm great today. Thanks for asking. I guess you could say that -- what with my new job and my wife and kids and all -- I'm really plussed at the moment."
So to be "nonplussed" would mean a state of not being improved. Seems kind of unnecessary, like sticking your hand up through your butt to pick your nose. Why go through the trouble of explaining what you're not?
It could have its uses. Perhaps the best means to point out to someone attempting to impart some wisdom or technical know-how exactly how much what they had to say didn't improve you or your understanding of anything in any way whatsoever.
Let's see.
What does this mean? ...
Precious cups within the flower
deadly petals with strange power
faces shine a deadly smile
look upon you at your trial
or this? ...
OK. How about this? Does this serve any significant symbolic value in your life? ...
Right. It doesn't. Maybe in context. But there is no context. It's meant to leave you nonplussed.
Unless, of course, it leaves you plussed, which is always great.
Well, maybe. But let's deconstruct it anyway.
To be "plussed" would insinuate addition, perhaps an improvement on something that already exists. But who goes around saying "Oh yeah, I'm great today. Thanks for asking. I guess you could say that -- what with my new job and my wife and kids and all -- I'm really plussed at the moment."
So to be "nonplussed" would mean a state of not being improved. Seems kind of unnecessary, like sticking your hand up through your butt to pick your nose. Why go through the trouble of explaining what you're not?
It could have its uses. Perhaps the best means to point out to someone attempting to impart some wisdom or technical know-how exactly how much what they had to say didn't improve you or your understanding of anything in any way whatsoever.
Let's see.
What does this mean? ...
Precious cups within the flower
deadly petals with strange power
faces shine a deadly smile
look upon you at your trial
or this? ...
OK. How about this? Does this serve any significant symbolic value in your life? ...
Right. It doesn't. Maybe in context. But there is no context. It's meant to leave you nonplussed.
Unless, of course, it leaves you plussed, which is always great.
7 comments:
I'm definitely plussed by this new knowledge.
i love the word nonplussed. i use it every day if i can. sadly...most don't know what i'm saying and i have to fucking paraphrase which just pisses me off.
funny pic of the cannon, though.
thanks, dan. if i can plus just one person's life in a day, it's a success.
ho, knowing how you roll ... i bet that pic of me staring down the barrel of a huge, phallic, civil-war-era cannon fits right in with your particular brand of symbolism ... ;)
e+
Phallic is a good word. The kind of word when you want to get the smarter kids in class to notice the subliminal humor in a giant cannon, without alerting others who wish to harm you.
Seriously though, if we deconstructed the entire language, I am pretty sure we wouldn't have anything left. This may or may not be a bad thing, because then I wouldn't have to listen to half the idiots speak.
They'd probably learn to grunt in an annoying way.
lol. what isn't phallic?
Personally I just think the entire english language is screwed up.We have so many rules on how to spell things and commas and periods and grammer.Then even if with all the rules we end up breaking them all the time.Heres an example. If I comes before E except after C wouldn't that mean science is spelled wrong?And then theres silent letters like k in knife.Then theres C and K they both sound exactly alike but they can be use for diffrent things...talk about a waste of a letter!I say someone start a petition to join C and K and make one super letter! WHOS WITH ME!(wow....i need to lay off the mountain dew this is like my 3rd plot against the government in the last half hour....)
Signed
Eric-ness, A Pretendor
you should be having three times that many plots against the government an hour, eric-ness.
trust me, it's healthy.
it always interests me that we consider our language so superior, to the point that we americans refuse to learn other languages.
yet, english is so disjointed.
then again, it's kind of nice to be nonplussed by the whole thing.
something to bitch about.
e+
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