Warning: Sarcasm Ahead

Jules Siegel jsiegel at mail.caribe.net.mx
Thu Jul 10 14:27:00 CDT 1997


At 02:24 PM 07/10/97 -0400, Joaquin Stick <dmaus at email.unc.edu> wrote:

>The worst thing about the Eagles style was that they didn't even get the
language of the seventies rich, white cocaine-user scene right!

Where does it specify white? Cocaine? People snorted heroin and crystal
meth, too, among other powders.

It helps to keep all the details congruent for best effect when attempting
sarcastic. Here on pynchon-l, only those who purchased my humor implants
appreciate sarcasm, irony and humor, so the sarcasm will be ignored or taken
at face value. Any detail can lead to hundreds of disputing messages,
especially if it touches on one or more sensitive terms such as race or sex. 

>I mean, "she was terminally pretty"? I lived that culture and we NEVER said
"terminally pretty."

The Eagles weren't writing an after the fact novel that purported to be
about a subculture. They were the subculture and they were inventing its
language. More than that, they weren't talking talk in the song, but writing
a classically structured moralistic corrida commenting on sad events.
"Terminally pretty" is a description, not dialogue. Despite this, The Eagles
did get the rhythm of the language right, not to speak of the beat. That's
why they sold so many records.

"Life in the fast lane" gets the picture right, too: "Lines on the mirror
... lines on her face." I saw those lines and I saw that mirror. Didn't you?


--Jules Siegel Apdo 1764 Cancun QR 77501
http://www.yucatanweb.com/siegel/jsiegel.htm




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