Thursday, October 27, 2011

Lame wall of shame

A while ago I wrote a rant, Lame is so gay, about why using 'lame' as an insult is not cool. But for months now I've been immersed in Hild and haven't been paying much attention to the world. However, my agent now has the book, so I'm catching up.

This morning this caught my eye, a piece from MSNBC's Technolog, written by Helen A. S. Popkin:

Don't you just hate it when your lame friends and/or family members email you links to Hipster Mermaid or Damn You Auto Correct or the Crazy Nastya** Honey Badger or some other ancient meme, website or viral video you saw, like 10 million years ago?

As an editor I would have improved this sentence in several ways, not least of which would be to substitute a non-discriminatory word (clueless would be perfect) for this insult. I encourage Helen Popkin to try harder. If you feel like encouraging her, too, feel free to add a comment to the Technolog piece. (Sadly, it wouldn't let me leave a link.)

If you see any other egregious instances, please send me a link. I think it might be interesting to do a regular roundup, a Lame Wall of Shame.


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Posted by Nicola Griffith at 10:59 AM

9 comments:

  1. Done! When I saw the warning about restrictions of content for new commenters, I wasn't sure it would accept my thoughtful and sensitive suggestions, but it seems to have posted.

    ReplyDelete

  2. Promiscuous, thank you! I've also set up a Tumblr blog:

    http://www.tumblr.com/blog/lamewallofshame

    But this is the first time I've ever even touched Tumblr, so I haven't a clue how it works.

    Anyone got a recommendation for the best, quick how-to article?

    ReplyDelete

  3. I came across one today and it made me cringe. Now I don't remember where I saw it.

    Sorry, I don't know anything about Tumblr.

    ReplyDelete

  4. Yeah, they really make a person jump through some hoops to post on their stupid blog. But I managed as well. :)

    Why does it want me to log in when I try to go to your tumblr link, Nicola? Maybe because it's not set up yet? Clearly I know nothing about tumblr either....

    ReplyDelete

  5. Elaine, next time you see one, drop a comment here, okay?

    jennifer, thank you. As for Tumblr, I'm utterly ignorant right now. I'll figure it out at some point, but probably not by tomorrow :)

    ReplyDelete

  6. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/perrys-lame-excuse-for-not-attending-debates/2011/10/28/gIQAUPSIPM_blog.html

    http://espn.go.com/blog/los-angeles/dodger-thoughts/post/_/id/17776/the-lame-blame-game

    http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/27/your-views-on-trash-can-less-subway-stations-lame-laudable-other/

    http://www.lamebook.com/

    http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-10-26/theater/relatively-speaking-is-relatively-lame/

    http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2011/10/jebs-lame-ultimatum-are-you-with-the-sane-republicans-or-not.html

    ReplyDelete

  7. DianneorDi, Wow! Does the word ubiquitous mean anything to you?

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  8. Dianne, I've just added those links to the Lame Wall of Shame. Keep them coming! Everyone else, too, please. I am so fucking tired of this!

    barbara, oh, yes.

    ReplyDelete

  9. http://www.sundaymercury.net/midlands-sport/west-bromwich-albion-fc/west-brom-news/2011/10/30/albion-s-four-game-unbeaten-run-ends-with-lame-defeat-to-liverpool-66331-29685771/

    ReplyDelete

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