...and this one?
See this one really is just about being annoying. The response to "I think you mean website" is either "Oh yeah, I did" (not going to happen here) or "No, it's pretty clearly wobsite." Or if you want to mispronounce some more, "No, it's pretty clorely wobsite" or some such. But why the hell would say, basically out of nowhere "why don't you write about it in your blag?" Just because you have this one word you really want to say wrong so you force it into a sentence and you force that into the conversation. Why the hell would the character on the right want to put it on a blog??Honestly, I usually like "My Hobby" comics but the more I think about it, this one is just stupid. Made worse by the fact that he calls his own blog a blag, still.
update: I wrote a whole new paragraph!
update 2: Ha ha, I just noticed that the url for the 2nd image there is https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfQqINYfrpLusOIVoxwo7iReJnLRplXkPl0DTX-2K6FViE8bewo4W4K5No_0u07Vyw4jdHao_c0PF_sol7YMmOsaGaKvvHVBEJbwpVBYfKQh-ByWkoMXuXA8HkBvdofNhKznAobG2L_4M/s1600-h/annoying.jpg . It's like someone is screaming in the middle of my url! Ok fine I don't care what you think I THINK IT'S FUNNY.
I think the important thing is: blag is infinitely more fun to say than blog. Blog is a stupid word, but not really in a fun way. Blag is a stupid word and also fun to say. Everybody (except for people who disagree) wins.
ReplyDeletealso: don't all the "My Hobby" comics translate pretty well into "Being Annoying?"
ReplyDeleteRob - I disagree! Blog used to be fun, when it was new. Blogosphere is still very funny to me, especially because I usually say it while being serious, with a straight face and all. Also - the phrase "Web Blog" is hilarious. But that's irrelevant I guess.
ReplyDeleteBlag sounds like someone throwing up on the edge of the sidewalk. GUESS WHAT I SAW WHILE WALKING TO WORK TODAY.
Ariel - This warrants investigation! I will look.
OK here's what I found - maybe 25%-33% are just being annoying. Like 259. But 75 is pretty funny and not annoying, 37 is fun and it's all in your mind anyway, and of course 236 is wonderful, and the alt-text is just amazing.
You = Partially Correct!
i'm definitely gonna have to agree with carl on this one. the word blag has always fucking annoyed me.
ReplyDeleteI hate people who use the word "blag". For two reasons. 1) linguistic conventions exist for a reason - changing words for no reason is stupid and annoying. 2) the word "blag" being used instead of "blog", since it runs the risk of confusing people, is only done to express that one reads xkcd, and thus that one is part of the "in" group. Anyone who feels the need to express such a fact is not going to be the kind of person I have any respect for.
ReplyDeleteAnon is totally right. If the word somehow got popular (like how "pwned" spread) or something like that, it would be different. But it's basically a really dumb inside joke and if you hear someone say it you should punch them in the face.
ReplyDeleteI didn't appreciate the harsh tone of this comic either. It went from a friendly chat to one of mockery and disrespect. It's like saying
ReplyDelete"I went to the libary "
"you went where?"
"the libary"
"you mean the 'library'?"
"Fuck you, at least my parents aren't divorced!"
I dunno if its about wanting to be annoying or its about latent anger issues
My Hobby: Having Latent Anger Issues. I like the sound of that.
ReplyDeleteYour post made me laugh, even upon re-readings. Nice.
It makes me think of comic 102 where it's like Ha ha, jokes about a time machine and back to the future! ha ha! BAM SEPTEMBER 11TH. Not that I am saying not to make fun of Sept. 11th, because humor is an important way of coping with tragedy + I don't like the idea that any topic -any topic- is off limits for humor, but just - could you realize not think of a less jarring example?
If I am bored this weekend I will try to photoshop your comic into existence. It's a little tricky because he has a unique font (ie, his handwriting) which I actually like a lot but it complicates things.
Okay, I actually really liked this Old School XKCD, for me, "blag" has excellent mouthfeel and I'm big on mouthfeel. And I'm down on Linguistic Conventions. I'm imagining delegates. All the sexiest linguists are descriptivists anyway! Maybe I just feel a deep solidarity with that girl from "Mean Girls" who keeps trying to make "fetch" happen.
ReplyDeleteCarl, to be fair, the comic strip 102 wouldn't have had a point without the last panel. Yeah, it's kind of a mood switch and I can see why Munroe could have used a different joke, but he had to have something there or else there wouldn't have been a plot. It would be essentially a guy blandly summarizing the end of a popular movie without any joke or anything. Plus the alt text would have been weird.
ReplyDeleteOh I agree completely. But the example he gives -not just 9/11, but what is in my opinion a particularly vivid image of it - is really disturbing I think. I mean, there are a lot of sad things that can happen to characters that are less disturbing to readers than that.
ReplyDeleteAgain, I am not saying 9/11 jokes in general are off limits or wrong, just that it isn't the best thing here.
As an aside, "blague" is the French word for joke, and it sounds kinda like how I imagine "blag" would be pronounced. So, you know, that's a little extra layer for you.
ReplyDeleteI didn't like 102 (the Back to the Future one) merely for the fact that throughout the course of that series Marty never really had a chance to talk about the time machine and him doing what he did to his dad was an accident.
ReplyDeleteNow I know that it's supposed to be a joke and a take on the situation (sort of like the "Locke and Demosthenes" thing in 635 but that was still played in context well whereas this one wasn't) but... it just doesn't work for me. By the time Marty would have had the chance to talk about his adventures with Doc Brown and the time machine (and by the context of this comic, this would be right after the night that he had his fun, or around there so he would still be readjusting to how different the timeline is because of what he did) he doesn't have much of a choice for how to use the time machine, Doc Brown took it because he didn't want to screw with the timeline from a past perspective (saving Marty's kid from jail time I guess is a little bit different) so really, if the girl wanted to save her dad, then she should talk to Doc Brown, not Marty (then again, Marty could act less jerky about her bringing it up, but Marty didn't have an attitude like that in the movies)
Annnnnnyways, on topic, I always get a chuckle out of the "My Hobby" comics (except the Facebook one, that one is fucking creepy) but I agree Carl, this one isn't as funny as people seem to think, well the "wobsite" thing is funny, but the use of "blag" in the context does come across as kind of assholish considering how it is delivered (guess Randall just needed another contrived excuse to comes up with a new xkcd specific fad -_-)