Sunday, July 17, 2016

From the Fauxhause Blog...


From the Fauxhause Blog:


"Derrick “De De” Hudson, of a Roosevelt Avenue address, is accused of typing “Just kill all white cracker cops LLH” (laughing like hell) on a post by WGXA-TV about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to an arrest warrant."

What struck me most about this story is the usage of "LLH" (laughing like hell): can this be construed as a wink to the reader that -- while outrageous -- this is, indeed, satire, a case of poking the bear? Perhaps Hudson is showing how easy it is to use our Social Media in ways that we may say were never intended. 

Ah, intentions. We know how something SHOULD be used, and also understand how it WILL be used. Does that mean a writer must expect how something WILL be understood, as opposed to how he INTENDS it to be understood?

And "poking the bear"?

Wiki has this to say:

"Be careful not to imply that a specific individual is a bear. In Russia "bear" may be a compliment, but elsewhere(OED) it can mean a rough or bad-mannered person and "like a bear with a sore head" means very irritable. Using "don't poke the bear" to hint that an editor is over-sensitive on a subject might not be true, and could be construed as a personal attack. You might also offend fellow editors if they think you are accusing them of "bear-baiting" – a bloodsport which involved setting dogs to attack a captive bear.(OED) "Bear" is also a slang term for a big, hairy gay man."

Was my intention in using this phrase to invoke the image of "big, hairy gay men"?

LLH. Perhaps.


I am Laslo.

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