There is no such thing as gravity- the Earth sucks! That came from one of my grand-daughter's friends yesterday!
Cheers K in OZ Keith Helgesen. Director of Music, Canberra City Band. Ph: (02) 62910787. Band Mob. 0439-620587 Private Mob 0417-042171 -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Christopher Smith Sent: Friday, 15 July 2005 1:19 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Finale] Dare I?? O.T. On Jul 14, 2005, at 10:05 PM, dhbailey wrote: > Raymond Horton wrote: >>> >>> On Jul 14, 2005, at 6:15 AM, dhbailey wrote: >>> >>>> Okay, what's the term for words which are originally antonyms but >>>> which in certain situations mean the same thing? >>>> >>>> Example: Cool, Hot That's really cool! That's really hot! >>>> (both meaning essentially "that's really phat!") ;-) >>>> >>> >>> Or, "That band really sucks!" "That band really blows!" >>> >>> (But only in a rock/pop context. In a jazz context, "That band >>> really blows" means it improvises with extraordinary creativity and >>> group sensitivity.) >>> >>> 8-) >>> >>> Christopher >>> >> In the original, non-musical meaning of the two words, suck and blow >> mean the same thing, and neither is a really accurate description of >> the act, but at least the former implies the correct direction. > > I don't think what you are hinting at are the original non-musical > meanings of those two words. > Hmm, OK. Time for some slang etymology here. When I was a boy, the term "suck" as in "You suck!" was only applied to people, and in fact only to males, and usually to their performance in sports. The term was quite homophobic, in fact, implying that instead of getting in and playing the sport like a man, they were being "fairies" (not my term!) and letting themselves be dominated by the MEN who were playing well. The meaning of the term was quite clear to me and everyone else, as it was substituted quite often by other taunts of the same nature. It was only much later that I heard it applied to things, like "This hamburger sucks!" It became clear that the expression no longer meant what it used to mean, and just meant "bad". I noticed a similar shift in meaning in the word "pansy", which now apparently means "not aggressive" or "gentle-natured" with no connection at all to my generation's association of the term with homosexuality. It was freely thrown around in the children's film "Madagascar" that I just took my kids to this week, for crying out loud! Maybe fifteen years ago I first heard "blows" meaning bad. It was around the time that the expression "blowing chunks" (for throwing up) gained popularity, and often the two were interchanged. "That team blows chunks!" would be freely interchanged with "That team blows!" Of course, now it just means "bad." Note there is no connection with "sucks" that is immediately apparent to today's generation, just as there is no connection between "phat" and "fat". By contrast, in the jazz world "blow" has meant "improvise" for at least eighty years, and maybe more. It also applies equally to non-wind instruments, which caused me to giggle immoderately my first week in music school when the teacher said, "OK, the guitar will blow first, then the piano will take the next blow." _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.323 / Virus Database: 267.8.15/49 - Release Date: 14/07/2005 -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.323 / Virus Database: 267.8.15/49 - Release Date: 14/07/2005 _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
