mix n° 22 «     » on moving (lateral displacement)

February 8, 2007

The Anti Adjective-as-Mood-Ring League

i am growing increasingly intolerant of adverbs and adjectives. blue morning indeed. bah. the next person to use blue anything in a poem gets hit upside the head with um… tome 1 of the complete works of Jacques Cousteau. so beware.

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Comments for “The Anti Adjective-as-Mood-Ring League” :

  • what about silver? is it ok to use that?

    helena | Homepage | 08 02 2007 at 10:51 am

  • at least silver isn’t generically associated with an emotion. it may be used solely to convey the sensory setting (and this need not be a realistic setting). silver grass is fine. silver bells, why not. maybe it’ll warrant a tap on the wrist with a miniature Berlitz English-Latvian dictionary.

    bering | Homepage | 08 02 2007 at 11:07 am

  • No you can leave the dictionary on the shelf, the only time it’s permitted to use the phrase silver bells is if you’re referring to landscape gardening.

    What started this backlash in the first place?

    helena | Homepage | 09 02 2007 at 3:31 am

  • i stumbled upon some proud and preening online repository of contemporary poets and their work, and one of them wrote something along the lines of “and we’ll stand there in the blue morning”, and in that particular context it really pissed me off because it was used only because the poem wasn’t giving off the desired ambiance in the first place. And adding some high connotation-value adjective like that equates to sending in the violins if a scene isn’t on its own getting the desired reaction from viewers.

    bering | Homepage | 09 02 2007 at 4:56 am

  • I’ll lend you my hardback edition of the complete works of Shakespeare if you like, maybe you can tape it to the Cousteau - I haven’t read the rest of the poem (and don’t want to) and that line’s bugging me.

    helena | Homepage | 09 02 2007 at 7:45 am

  • I had to chuckle at this entry, especially at the statement:

    “the next person to use blue anything in a poem gets hit upside the head with um… tome 1 of the complete works of Jacques Cousteau. so beware.”

    Why? Because (and apologies if you already knew this or if it also applies elsewhere in the world) colloquially in Australia to have a disagreement or fight with someone is also known as a “blue”

    Cameron | Homepage | 09 04 2007 at 5:11 am

  • hi cameron,

    no, i didn’t know that. i guess out here in the Far West they’d probably call it having a “beef”.

    So it was an involuntary recursive self-contained double-entendre of the lost in translation sort.

    bering | Homepage | 12 04 2007 at 10:24 am