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It's a pet peeve of mine that people are proud of that which they had no part in creating.
One is reasonably proud of his accomplishments, and proud of his children (although it starts to stretch things to be proud of their accomplishments.)
"Black pride" is understandable, I suppose, as an antidote to the black shame which was propagated for decades.
But pride in an organization of athletic entertainers? Should fans of Penn State football be ashamed for raping little boys? A fan is no more a Washington Redskin than they are Marcus Welby, M.D.
deaconB said
It's a pet peeve of mine that people are proud of that which they had no part in creating.
One is reasonably proud of his accomplishments, and proud of his children (although it starts to stretch things to be proud of their accomplishments.)
"Black pride" is understandable, I suppose, as an antidote to the black shame which was propagated for decades.
But pride in an organization of athletic entertainers? Should fans of Penn State football be ashamed for raping little boys? A fan is no more a Washington Redskin than they are Marcus Welby, M.D.
Can I be proud to be Irish?
#spud #cobbler #lumper
Robert Said: There've got to be a word for when parents go on orgies over their child's excellence while the child if present covers his face and hides under the table.
I think that term is "vicarious success" or maybe "vicarious pride." I mean, a certain amount of pride in their child's accomplishments is normal and justifiable for parents, but know a LOT of parents who overdo it. And I'm not so sure that's a good thing for the child. We have no children, but during my tenure as a teacher I saw a lot of that behavior.
Sorry, I didn't think I'd need to give an in-depth explanation of this thread topic at the start. I guess I wasn't clear enough with the concept.
But, since my topic idea has lost direction ("A Tom Swifty for tweeters.") and taken off on a tangent, I'll clarify.
This has nothing to do with pride, personal proclamations or preferences. It's merely wordplay.
TS -- "Hashtag Swifties are a knockoff of Tom Swifties," Tom averred divisively.
"I just didn't want my phrase to be turned back on me so literally," he added bookishly.
HS -- "Should we also hash out Taylor Swifties (for hack songwriters) or
AIG Swifties (for unscrupulous brokers)?" #uninspiredderivatives
There's a subtle difference between the two. As I see it, the HS -- besides not being limited to verbs and adverbs -- is more often an opinion on the subject or comment on its supposed author as well as a pun.
The "I'm proud to be a Washington Redskin. #potatohead" HS entry is meant to refer to both a congress in Washington that might be considered inward-thinking and the team management who may be seen as refusing political correctness, personal empathy, public relations, or even associated bad mojo to consider renaming the D.C. football franchise. This satirical statement implies that either one or both group(s) are potatoheads, since the subject has been identified as such. (...again, personal preferences aside)
I can now see wise.
Clear were not my mind's old eyes.
Boy, is my face red;
for I too am a potatohead! :#}
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"Is there anything less funny than breaking down (a joke) to people?
Did I look any less foolish, when I tried to explain a joke to the herd?" #laughingstock
I think some, if not most, of us have seen these occur organically. Some comics and commercials have tried to use them -- but they usually fall flat -- as being clubbed with obvious single entendres do. I thought Wayworders could come up with some properly clever ones to put the others to shame.
I came up with the name. Perhaps there's a better title for these.
This topic was meant to be a challenge to create original Hashtag Swifties. Or maybe you have another Swifty category.
"Now, can we reboot anew?!" #howtostartleawildebeest
You need to meet 2 requirements for it to work:
1-- To make sense immediately just on the surface.
2-- To make secondary sense by means of clever puns or other clever twisted interpretations.
Sorry Al but in your examples I see only part 2 (the clever part). Not much sense on the surface (part 1).
Robert said
You need to meet 2 requirements for it to work:
1-- To make sense immediately just on the surface.
For me, proper humor needs to have a sense of self-discovery. The best ones need to take a moment or so to be realized.
You're right that superficiality is immediate; but it lacks humor for me. Solely punny is not very funny. [Lets all groan together.]
Evoke a mental picture, shared arcane knowledge, misdirection, current/topical event, or parallel. I think if an audience is not talked down to, they'll appreciate the humor more. That's probably why the majority of television written today is so lacking -- especially compared to the Golden Age.
If you want me to have an honest laugh, dole me a fresh joke grenade with a moderately extended fuse! It will be worth the wait.
[Anyone in the mood for pineapple chunks? I'll be wearing some soon.] 
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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