Thursday 9 October 2014

The Light is Seen

Further to my post here on the 18th July: http://robocono.blogspot.no/2014/07/the-locomotion-but-not-by-little-eva.html: I've just realised where it is that I've actually seen women taught to walk swinging the arms from side to side across the front of the body. 

It's on all those 'personal makeover' shows presented by the likes of Trinny and Susanna where they get women whose craving for fame (ruhmsucht) exceeds any natural and unimpeachably reasonable disinclination to have their dress sense ridiculed and be made to strip off down to their underwear, to do so for the shamefully cruel pleasure (schadenfreude) of millions of TV viewers during repeated broadcasts on national TV and in the neverending afterlife of such programmes on cable and digital TV channels across the world.


Using the boot camp NCO's system of bullying and ritual humiliation to break down the individual sense of self-worth and inculcate slavish and unquestioning obedience, the recruit is then remade in the mould of reality TV service, culminating at a catwalk event in some kind of semitheatrical arena in front of an audience of friends, family and acquaintances, the main preparation for which (apart from lots of makeup and a new hairdo) consists of training them to hurl their arms from side to side across the direction of motion while walking, at the same time violently rotating the balls of their feet before they are lifted at the conclusion of each step. 
The arms: like the audience of an oompah band at a German bierfest, the feet: as if they are stubbing out a succession of cigarette ends while on the move.

A Lexicon of Transatlantic Prolixity


YANKEE INGENUITY (or, never use one syllable where several will do).
Fuelled in recent years by politicians' efforts to sound 'folksy', a trend started by Ronald Reagan, and which reached its bathetic nadir when George W. Bush referred to the perpetrators of the 9/11 terrorist atrocity as "the folks who did this".

affirmative                              = yes
all of                                       = all
alongside.                              = with
apartment                              = flat 
apple cider                             = cider
arrive into                               = arrive at
at the exact same time          = simultaneously
at this time                             = now
at this moment in time           = now
at this point in time                = now
attitude of mind                      = attitude
authored                                = wrote
automobile                             = car
available to buy instore now  = on sale
baby carriage                         = pram
back in (e.g. 2011)                 = in
back in the day                      = previously
backside                                = back
backstory                               = history
bagpiper                                = piper
barbershop                            = barber
based off of                           = based on
based out of                          = based in
be advised that                      =
beat out                                 = beat
better understand                  = understand
burglarized                            = burgled
cash rich                                = rich
catch on fire                           = catch fire
change out                            = change
chase down                           = chase/find
clothes iron                           = iron
creamer                                 = jug
crew members                      = crew
Do Not Enter (roadsign)        = No Entry
drop back                              = drop
expiration date                      = expiry date
family members                    family
ferryboat                               = ferry
field hockey                           = hockey
finished up                            = finished
first up                                   = first
flashlight                                torch
freedom fries                         = chips
free up                                   = free
furlough (US army)                = leave (UK army)
furloughed                             = laid off
garbanzo beans                    = chickpeas
garner                                   = get
gasoline                                = petrol
get ahold                               get hold
gifted (verb)                           = given
gifted with                              = given
going forward                        =               
graduate degree                    = degree 
handed to                              = given
hating on                               = hating
head in from                          = come from
head out from                        = leave from
head out to                            = go to
head up                                 = head
helmed                                  = lead
Hide and Go Seek                 = Hide and Seek
horseback riding                    = riding
horse jockey                          = jockey
impacting on                          = affecting
house party                           = party
incentivize                             encourage
in lock step                            = in step
inside of                                 = inside
invest into                              = invest in
issue                                      = problem
iteration                                 = version
laundry iron                           = iron
liquid water                            = water
listen up                                 = listen
marching in lock step            = marching
movie                                    = film
meet with                              meet
meet up with                         = meet
multiple                                 = 's' suffix
multiple times                       = often                                 
necktie                                  = tie
night crawler                         = worm
obligated                               = obliged
off of                                      = off
oftentimes                             = often
on a daily basis                     = daily
on a regular basis                 = regularly
optimal                                  = best
outside of                              = outside
parking lot                             = car park
park up                                  = park
particle board                        = chipboard
penned                                  = wrote
percentage points                 = %
pitcher                                   = jug
play catch up                         = catch up
power outage                        = power cut
prebook                                 = book
preorder                                order
proactive                               active
reach out to                           = contact
relocate                                 = move
report back                            = report
roadmap                                = plan
resolve (verb)                        solve
sauté                                     = fry
sea turtle                               = turtle
sheepherder                          = shepherd
showcase (verb)                    = show
shutter(ed)                             = close(d)                                 
sign off                                   = sign
sign off on                              = sign
skyrocketing.                         = rocketing
smokestack                           = chimney
smoking pipe                         = pipe
speak with                             = speak to
step change                           = change
switch out                              = swap
taxidermied                            = stuffed
tea kettle                                = kettle
tear up                                   = cry
teeter totter                            = seesaw
track record                           = record
transfer over                          = transfer
underneath of                        = underneath
up and running                      = working
upcoming                               = coming
urban legend                         = urban myth
vacation                                 = holiday
variety meats                         = offal
visit with                                 = visit
wait in line                              = queue
wait up                                   = wait
water turtle                             = terrapin
water fountain                        = fountain
worrisome                              = worrying
zero                                        = no