My dad is cool

[cosmolinguist]

Last night at supper Dad mentioned that the Charlie Brown Christmas special was going to be on TV that night.

"It's supposed to be on a Wednesday night!" I said. "Because I always missed it." My brother and I were so annoyed that it was always on when we were stuck at stupid CCD classes. Overall, I think Charlie Brown would've done a far better job of enriching my life than inadequate teachings of Catholic catechism in rooms so cold we usually left our coats and gloves on ... but that's a whole nother tangent.

Luckily, this Christmas tradition would be continued once again this year: I may have escaped the jaws of religion, but Charlie Brown's Christmas special is still denied me, as Mom and I were leaving right after we ate.

A few minutes later, between the news and the weather, the TV told us that the 2005 Victoria's Secret fashion show would be on later that evening. I already knew about this; LiveJournal tells me about everything that matters*. But my dad's interest was piqued.

"Ooo, Victoria's Secret?" he said. "I'll have to watch that." Pause. "After Charlie Brown."

Juxtaposition. That's why my dad is cool.

---

* Doesn't it?

Comments

[davmoo.livejournal.com]

Here's a bit of trivia for you. In all of the Charlie Brown specials, there is only one time that Linus purposely drops his "security blanket". And that's while he's quoting the Bible while telling the story of Christmas.

[comradexavier.livejournal.com]

Haven't I taught you about "a whole 'nother" yet? You should at least put the apostrophe in there.

[cosmolinguist]

But the a's not missing. It's just moved over a bit!

[classytart.livejournal.com]

There's nothing wrong with a spot of tmesis (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=tmesis) now and then.

[cosmolinguist]

Ooo, that's a word I didn't know before. And a good one. Yay!

[classytart.livejournal.com]

Glad to be of service, ma'am.

:)

(it's one of my favourite words, and, happily, describes something I quite like)

[comradexavier.livejournal.com]

Oh, splendid! I didn't know it was an actual named thing in English. From that definition, though, "Separation of the parts of a compound word..." Shouldn't it then be split "an...other," and probably in this case, "a whole other," to use the correct article?

[cosmolinguist]

The definition doesn't say the word has to be split between the two parts of the compound! :-D

I'm sure it would be a whole other if it were a standard or formal thing, but it's just slang, and slang often doesn't follow the rules. (And a whole other doesn't seem all that likely to get used in formal English; it seems more clumsy or awkward than other ways of saying "entirely different.")

[comradexavier.livejournal.com]

Sure it does: "Separation of the parts of a compound word..." I think it would be sufficiently odd that it would be noted in the definition if the word could be split arbitrarily between any two letters or even between any two syllables.

I know it's slang, and I'm even guilty of saying it when I'm not thinking. But seeing that I now know there are applicable rules, they're interesting to talk about.

[stealthmunchkin.livejournal.com]

Actually, i would probably say 'a whole other' were I ever to use a phrase like that...

[stealthmunchkin.livejournal.com]

In fact, in Some Like It Hot, don't they say "Women! They're a whole other gender"?

[cieo.livejournal.com]

I LOVE Christmas specials.
Every year, I just have to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Muppets Christmas Carol, A Christmas Carol, and some of those old claymation Christmas shows they put out for kids. :) They make me happy.

[cosmolinguist]

I got to see the Claymation Rudolph, which makes me ridiculously happy. Also, I found out that my dad and I have the same favorite version of A Christmas Carol, which he watched a few nights ago when it was on TV. I only got to see a minute of it, because we had company at the time. I was inordinately fond of the Disney Christmas Carol when I was little; when I finally got around to reading Charles Dickens' version, I couldn't help but think okay, that's Donald Duck's character, and that's Goofy... I think I'm goofy.