Thanks, and a rant!

[rivkat]

The icon poll from last time reveals that the Rivkid is twice as popular as the nearest runner-up (I think so too!). In fact, my icons have a power law distribution in popularity, which is an entirely perfect result. Also, thank you so much, notreallyjordan and anonymous for the extra time! I know I haven’t been visibly around much this semester, but you have been an amazing refuge for me even when I’m not saying anything. I will attempt to perform similar acts of kindness, and also do more writing here.

A paragraph of text I love (wait for it):
The problem is that no matter how many monkeys are thrown into the background to provide eyecatching stunts of simian prowess, the person who has said the stupid thing has still said the stupid thing. The problem is that whether the injured party is diverted by monkey spectacle or not, the person who has said the stupid thing has still said the stupid thing. The problem is that when the earth burns up in a supernova flare and the monkeys that have taken over the world in ages past disassemble into atoms, the person who has said the stupid thing will still have said the stupid thing, although, admittedly, at that point it will mean significantly less to the injured party.

Unpopular fannish opinions, lexicography subset:
The increasing use of “fail,” especially for some reason “made of fail,” for “things people don’t like” makes me twitch every time I see it. I recognize that this is an entirely personal reaction; I’m just writing about what’s going on in my head, so if you find it useful and fun I’m not trying to convince you otherwise. (By contrast, I find “why was I not informed?” hilarious every single time, and “tries hard, finds subject difficult” is also really funny, despite what I’m going to say about teaching in a second.)

Initial aside: It seems particularly odd to me that the opposite of “made of fail” is not “made of pass” but instead “made of win,” and the opposite of “made of win” is not “made of lose” but “made of fail.” I guess we don’t say “made of pass” because, well, we don’t generally get recognized for being up to a basic standard once we’re beyond pass/fail classes. And perhaps “made of lose” brings to mind the question “what is it that you’re losing?” whereas “made of win” more readily connects to “you win the internet.”

Anyway, I think the reason I twitch is that the failure I think of is always mine. If a student of mine has failed, that means I have failed to teach that student. I realize that there are situations in which my teaching doesn’t matter, but I default to blaming myself—both by temperament and to avoid my natural desire to give myself excuses. So when I see a statement about someone failing, I automatically think of the person who has failed him/her. (And then I identify with the fail-er and feel bad!) Often there is no such person, or not someone we could identify/talk about anyway, but for me that makes the term “fail” too fraught to be useful to me in these circumstances.

Not only may your mileage vary, I would be shocked if it didn’t.

Next time, I hope, reviews. I have several stacked up and waiting!

Comments

[stoplookingup.livejournal.com]

Made of fail, made of win, do not want, tl;dr, headdesk, facepalm, etc., just remind me of the one I made up to apply to myself: made of old.

[giandujakiss.livejournal.com]

By contrast, I find “why was I not informed?” hilarious every single time, and “tries hard, finds subject difficult” is also really funny, despite what I’m going to say about teaching in a second

Appropos of nothing, the thing I keep seeing and that never fails to make me giggle is "What the actual fuck?"

I dunno.

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

I never heard that one before. Oh internet, you are such a good teacher.

[tehomet.livejournal.com]

"What the actual fuck?"

*gigglesnort*

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

Interesting points about made of fail/made of win; am thinking.

[treewishes.livejournal.com]

Sorry for your disconnect! I guess I always see it as a sports analogy vs a coursework analogy. One "wins" an event, or "fails" to complete it. (You know, the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat type of thing.) When you run a race or compete at ski jumping, you win OR you fail to finish. Or you can just be average, and come in 12th, but who care about that?

[mskatej.livejournal.com]

One of my favourite examples of the use of "Fail" is this cat macro:

http://www.lafferty.ca/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/fail-24.jpg

But you are totally right. The owner of the cat has totally failed to not put cheese on his head.

[lotesse]

I had never thought of "fail" in terms of pass/fail. In my head, it tends to be for the times when someone totally and comically messes up whatever they were trying to do, which was not that important anyway. Term papers are not made of fail, no matter what. However, tripping over one's tongue and saying that something is a "total tragesty" is. If that makes any sense. Also, failboats. Which are awesome, and my favorite.

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

I like the idea of a tragesty! My son has tantrums over what pants he's going to wear; my husband calls them "pantrums." Portmanteau words can be fun.

[veejane.livejournal.com]

I would have said that the opposite of fail in this sense is not pass but succeed. And that the internet never uses a 7-letter word when a slightly wrong 3-letter one will do. Hence, "You fail" and "you win", which became just "fail" and "win", and then "made of" same.

I do see "You lose" sometimes, but I think that lose is flexible enough in the absence of context that people avoid it as often as not. Also, as we fanficcers know, nobody on the internet knows how to spell it, and "You loose" is an insult to nobody.

(Apropos of nothing, a couple months ago a barge crashed into a train bridge not far from here, and all I could think of to say about it was, "Literal failboat!" ...Okay, I thought it was funny.)

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

It's clearly a sign of my own obsessions that I only see fail/pass, not fail/succeed. Too true about "you loose."

[maggiebloome.livejournal.com]

Perhaps "lose" is just less satisfying to say. I think it's something about the z sound because I hear people say "so much lossage" in place of "so much fail" on occasion.

[constanc755.livejournal.com]

I like you because of your icon!