Monday August 6, 2001
Book 1: The Tub of Happiness — Equivocated Prevarication
A note about epithets: I try to keep this strip as free from conventional, 21st-century english obscenity, blasphemy, and profanity as possible. This means that occasionally I'll use what I call "profanyms" -- words that are synonyms for, homonyms for or otherwise adequate replacements for epithets you won't hear on TV.

Crap on a crutch is one of these--it's technically a blasphenym, but its meaning is independent of its similarity to the silly, stupid piece of street-blasphemy it can stand in for. Think about it. You've got this piece of fecal matter on a crutch--not only is it absurd (as absurd as suddenly seeing TWO Doythabans when you only expected ONE), but there is conflict inherent in it. It implies the existence of a prankster somewhere. And somewhere else there is a crippled person who is going to be very angry. And then there's going to be screaming, and I have this vision of a one-legged veteran of the Tycho-Hellenic wars swinging a big, heavy, dirty-ended stick at everyone in the room.

So ask yourself... is my epithet more or less effective than what it replaces? And how can society benefit from the creation of more deeply meaningful exclamations of displeasure? 'Crap on a crutch' indeed...

Coins

Transcript

Bunni: Sorry to interrupt, Captain, but doythaban and, um, haban the second have an important story to tell you.
Tagon: Crap on a crutch. There are two of you.
DoytHaban: (haban) Wow. Even startled, the captain can count.
Haban II: Hey, how many fingers am I holding up?
Tagon: Seven less than I plan to break if you don't make with the storytelling.
Footnote: A note about epithets: I try to keep this strip as free from conventional, 21st-century english obscenity, blasphemy, and profanity as possible. This means that occasionally I'll use what I call "profanyms" -- words that are synonyms for, homonyms for or otherwise adequate replacements for epithets you won't hear on TV.Crap on a crutch is one of these--it's technically a blasphenym, but its meaning is independent of its similarity to the silly, stupid piece of street-blasphemy it can stand in for. Think about it. You've got this piece of fecal matter on a crutch--not only is it absurd (as absurd as suddenly seeing TWO Doythabans when you only expected ONE), but there is conflict inherent in it. It implies the existence of a prankster somewhere. And somewhere else there is a crippled person who is going to be very angry. And then there's going to be screaming, and I have this vision of a one-legged veteran of the Tycho-Hellenic wars swinging a big, heavy, dirty-ended stick at everyone in the room.So ask yourself... is my epithet more or less effective than what it replaces? And how can society benefit from the creation of more deeply meaningful exclamations of displeasure? 'Crap on a crutch' indeed...