George Carlin Dead of Heart Failure 583
ashamanq was one of many who noted that comedian
George Carlin has died of heart failure. Most famous for his "Seven Words You Can Never Say On TV" routine which resulted in a landmark supreme court ruling, he was a true voice against censorship, and also one of the funniest men ever. He was 71.
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Smiling down. (Score:4, Insightful)
Um, I think you mean. May his body decay into the earth as nicely as fucking possible.
Anyone who mentions "up there", "god", or "soul" in this article should be modded down.
Re:Smiling down. (Score:5, Funny)
Obviously, his soul is smiling down from Joe Pesci's roof, where it got stuck.
And for those who don't get the Joe Pesci referenc (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Smiling down. (Score:5, Informative)
--George Carlin
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And now for something completely different... (Score:5, Funny)
"But I do mean that. I mean, I think the word fuck is an important word. It's the beginning of life, and, yet it's a word we use to hurt one other, quite often. And uh, people much wiser than I have said, I'd rather have my son watch a film with two people making love than two people trying to kill one other. And I of course agree. I wish I know who said it first, and I agree with that. But I would like to take it a step further. I would like to substitute the word fuck, for the word kill in all those movie cliches we grew up with.
'Okay Sheriff, we're gonna fuck ya now. But we're gonna fuck ya slow.'
Re:And now for something completely different... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:And now for something completely different... (Score:4, Funny)
Or maybe we just like playing with language.
For example:
tits tits.
tits tits tits tits.
titstitstitstitstitstitstitstitstitstits
It's such a wonderful word, isn't it? It's not a bad word...It sounds more like a snack. (yeah, yeah, I know...it is!)
Re:And now for something completely different... (Score:5, Insightful)
I hope you're not serious. You realize the word "fuck" is as much a word as is the word "existentialism."
If I was visiting a tribe in Africa where no one spoke English and I went up to the chief with a basket of various gifts, and offered this basket to the chief while smiling and saying in a calm polite voice "I hope you fucking choke on a bucket of cum you worthless pile of shit" the chief would not take offense. He wouldn't know what I said and would only be able to guess that it was something nice, since I said it with a smile, in a calm polite voice, while offering a basket of gifts.
Now, if I went up to the same chief, screaming to the point where my face was red "Hello Sir! I hope you live a long and prosperous life!" He would take great offense to that, he would think I was angry with him.
Swear words are just words, they aren't magical, they don't bring down society. If a 5 year old boy never heard the word "fuck" before, hearing it isn't going to turn him into a mindless degenerate. He's only going to know the meaning of the word based on who said it, the context, and how they said it.
Re:And now for something completely different... (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, your point is that how people react to words depends on how they are said. It's also true that what a word means depends on how you say it. Some ways of using a word don't require assigning any meaning to it.
The German language has words like "doch" or "mal" which play a kind of grammatical function but don't mean anything specific. The word "fuck" is used by many people in English much the same way. Using "fuck" is not, objectively, any morally less worthy than "doch". It's just that using "fuck" as a kind of rhythmic grammatical filler is not an educated style of speech, whereas those peculiar German words are part of the mainstream dialect. Because it is an uneducated style of speech, "fuck" filled language is often found traveling in the company with stupid, mindless, and ignorant speech. Still, it is neither here nor there in itself.
Things get interesting when "fuck" is used as a curse. "Bad" language is called "cursing", but it almost never is cursing. "Fuck you" is the rare example of an actual curse. Its emotionally powerful because the sexual connotations of the word give the curse humiliating overtones. "Suck" is sometimes used in "you suck" the same way.
"Fuck" as a word can only be called automatically offensive if you define "offensiveness" so vaguely it amounts to "anything that bothers me." Some people do think this way. But for me, it's the placing of mindless humiliation on another person that's offensive. Not all uses of the word "fuck" amount to this; not even all uses of the word in a curse do. The use of language to degrade another human being could be the very definition of offensiveness.
Enough on anti-profanity, more George C. (Score:5, Funny)
I'm new wave, but I'm old school and my inner child is outward bound. I'm a hot-wired, heat seeking, warm-hearted cool customer, voice activated and bio-degradable. I interface with my database, my database is in cyberspace, so I'm interactive, I'm hyperactive and from time to time I'm radioactive.
Behind the eight ball, ahead of the curve, ridin the wave, dodgin the bullet and pushin the envelope. I'm on-point, on-task, on-message and off drugs. I've got no need for coke and speed. I've got no urge to binge and purge. I'm in-the-moment, on-the-edge, over-the-top and under-the-radar. A high-concept, low-profile, medium-range ballistic missionary. A street-wise smart bomb. A top-gun bottom feeder. I wear power ties, I tell power lies, I take power naps and run victory laps. I'm a totally ongoing big-foot, slam-dunk, rainmaker with a pro-active outreach. A raging workaholic. A working rageaholic. Out of rehab and in denial!
I've got a personal trainer, a personal shopper, a personal assistant and a personal agenda. You can't shut me up. You can't dumb me down because I'm tireless and I'm wireless, I'm an alpha male on beta-blockers.
I'm a non-believer and an over-achiever, laid-back but fashion-forward. Up-front, down-home, low-rent, high-maintenance. Super-sized, long-lasting, high-definition, fast-acting, oven-ready and built-to-last! I'm a hands-on, foot-loose, knee-jerk head case pretty maturely post-traumatic and I've got a love-child that sends me hate mail.
But, I'm feeling, I'm caring, I'm healing, I'm sharing-- a supportive, bonding, nurturing primary care-giver. My output is down, but my income is up. I took a short position on the long bond and my revenue stream has its own cash-flow. I read junk mail, I eat junk food, I buy junk bonds and I watch trash sports! I'm gender specific, capital intensive, user-friendly and lactose intolerant.
I like rough sex. I like tough love. I use the "F" word in my emails and the software on my hard-drive is hardcore--no soft porn.
I bought a microwave at a mini-mall; I bought a mini-van at a mega-store. I eat fast-food in the slow lane. I'm toll-free, bite-sized, ready-to-wear and I come in all sizes. A fully-equipped, factory-authorized, hospital-tested, clinically-proven, scientifically- formulated medical miracle. I've been pre-wash, pre-cooked, pre-heated, pre-screened, pre-approved, pre-packaged, post-dated, freeze-dried, double-wrapped, vacuum-packed and, I have an unlimited broadband capacity.
I'm a rude dude, but I'm the real deal. Lean and mean! Cocked, locked and ready-to-rock. Rough, tough and hard to bluff. I take it slow, I go with the flow, I ride with the tide. I've got glide in my stride. Drivin and movin, sailin and spinin, jiving and groovin, wailin and winnin. I don't snooze, so I don't lose. I keep the pedal to the metal and the rubber on the road. I party hearty and lunch time is crunch time. I'm hangin in, there ain't no doubt and I'm hangin tough, over and out!"
--George Carlin
And now...he's gone.
Re:And now for something completely different... (Score:5, Funny)
Good sir, I'd like to interrupt you if I may? I think it would be in the best interest of several parties if you would cease this particular discourse on the subject at hand. Specifically, it would be in the best interests of myself, yourself, and the general slashdot reading populace if you were to cease and desist your discussion of this matter. The reason I suggest this, kind sir, is that there are valid emotional reasons for using "swear words" as you call them. Further, it can be argued - nay, has been argued - that the only people who are harmed - that is to say, offended by - swear words are people who have chosen to take offense at such things. As such, the burden for negating the harm resulting from "swear words" lies solely with those offended and not with the perpetrators of said offenses. Furthermore, the concision with which the person swearing can convey their point through swearing is considerably increased over that of more intellectual discourse. For example, if you were to drop a hammer on your toe. Would you stop, think about it rationally and attempt to compose a proper message to convey your pain, frustration or anger? Or would you swear, get it over with, and resume your work? Ponder these points for a few moments, I implore you...
Translation: Shut the fuck up, asshole.
Re:And now for something completely different... (Score:5, Insightful)
The fact that curse words evoke primitive emotional responses in people is exactly why they're so important and powerful. Like it or not, people are primitive emotional beings, and appealing to that side is often, no, usually the best way to communicate with them.
Sure, you can try communicating calmly and rationally with people, if you like getting ignored. But if you want results, you've got to hit them in the old lizard brain.
Re:And now for something completely different... (Score:4, Funny)
The difference between uttering a curse word and assaulting someone and threatening them with death?
Yeah, I just don't see it either. -_-
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
You don't see the difference between mere words and physical violence?
Re:And now for something completely different... (Score:5, Funny)
Last time someone tried to physically dominate me, I saw them clearly, I rejected them clearly, I got my face broken, I broke their nose and their arm and their ribs, and I went to the hospital happy.
Clearly that's much better than seeing the letters 'F', 'U', 'C', and 'K' appear on a screen.
When I'm confronted with manipulators, and I watch helplessly as they twist words and turn my fellow men into blind idiots, it ruins my whole day and causes me to get into stupid arguments with my girlfriend.
Maybe you should hit her.
Re:And now for something completely different... (Score:4, Informative)
What's the difference?
The difference is that the later is a far more effective method of getting people to do what you want. Although I wouldn't compare swearing to physical violence. I don't even agree with the statement that you have to swear to get someone's attention.
I'd also like to point out that YOU get offended when someone swears because YOU choose to get offended by the word. If I had just finished a dinner you prepared and I said "Holy shit that was good!" and you were offended, that was your choice to get offended. What's the difference between "Holy shit that was good" and "Wow that was good"? They both carry the same meaning, yet you feel one of them is wrong because there's a swear word in it?
Maybe this quote might help you understand
There are 400,000 words in the English language, and there are 7 you can't say on television. What a ratio that is! 399,993...to 7. They must really be baaaad. They must be OUTRAGEOUS to be separated from a group that large. "All of you words over here, you seven....baaaad words". That's what they told us, right? "That's a bad word!!" Awwww. No bad words. Bad thoughts. Bad intentions, and wooooords.
George Carlin
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Re:And now for something completely different... (Score:4, Insightful)
The more extensive your vocabulary, the better you can fine-tune communication. Words are tools. A simple screwdriver is good for most jobs, but you often find yourself using different screwdrivers for different tasks. Sometimes you want a jewelers screwdriver to work on your glasses. Other times you want a large flathead with a strong grip so you can apply torque. A band saw is just as much a tool as a drill, and serves very different purposes - it all depends on your need.
Sometimes, though, the job can only be done with a good solid sledgehammer.
Swear words are effectively sledgehammers.
For example, it is often required that you express distaste or anger - they're everyday emotions that you can't hide from, and they often need to be declared. You have a wide variety of words to use. Simple direct "base" words, like "Angry" or "Mad" get the basic point across but are far too generic to have any real meaning beyond the basic concept. Being basic words, though, they have more emotional impact. There are better words in the core vocabulary, such as "Furious" or "Irritated" - these allow finer grades of meaning, but trade this for a bit of power. As you go up the ladder, you can achieve more and more precise meanings, such as "irascible", "choleric", or "perturbed". In civil communications, these can describe your feelings to a great level of precision. They also lose almost all of their emotional power.
Say you've done something to anger me, in a situation where it's appropriate for me to express that anger. Not only that, but you're threatening me - in many circumstances counter-intimidation is the only intelligent response (since an appeal will often simply fail, and a first-strike is usually not acceptable).
There are three basic routes you could follow.
Do as many well-educated verbose geeks will do, and respond with a well-spoken and wordy response that applies logic and fine shades of meaning to each and every word. In an emotional situation, this is generally useless and shows intelligence but very little understanding of real-world social interaction.
You can apply your vocabulary, abstaining from actual cursing, but choosing your words for effect. Phrases like "choking on your own blood" or "cripple you for life" keep the wording short and simple, and don't require degrading language. The problem is it's very difficult for most intelligent people to intimidate intelligently without being overtly threatening yourself. This is usually the best course, but it's also the most risky.
Alternately, a simple "Fuck you", or "back off asshole" will usually work much better. While cussing can fan the flames, once the individuals are already angry then a little cussing really doesn't add much to it. Quite the opposite - degenerating into schoolhouse taunts does a very good job of releasing tension (which is almost always what most fights are about) without actually hitting eachother.
Vocalization is a mammal concept (at least the way we use it). Speech is a purely human concept. Cussing, though, is most definitely a primate concept - chimps taught sign language invent their own forms very quickly. When you cuss, you tap into primal emotions, for better or for worse. Almost every association you have for any swear word is animal in nature.
That's why swearing is unacceptable. It has nothing to do with polite society, or problem resolution. It's for the same reason why nakedness offends (because a naked human body loses it's veneer of civilization - naked humans look like any other animal). For the same reason why many cultures dislike extensive facial hair or long scalp hair (it's a reminder that we're still just animals). It's why virtually all of our basic laws - both religious and civil - primarily focus on covering up for t
Re:Smiling down. (Score:5, Informative)
Um, I think you mean. May his body decay into the earth as nicely as fucking possible.
Anyone who mentions "up there", "god", or "soul" in this article should be modded down.
Re:Smiling down. (Score:5, Funny)
Reminds me of Vonnegut talking about Asimov:
I am honorary president of the American Humanist Association, having succeeded the late, great, spectacularly prolific writer and scientist, Dr. Isaac Asimov in that essentially functionless capacity. At an A.H.A. memorial service for my predecessor I said, "Isaac is up in Heaven now." That was the funniest thing I could have said to an audience of humanists. It rolled them in the aisles. Mirth! Several minutes had to pass before something resemble solemnity could be restored.
As, I think, Mark, George and gods would say ... (Score:4, Insightful)
"Greetings my excellent friends!" Rufus
"George and Sam exceeded my expectations of simple humans." GODDDD
The 4D GoDDDD will always be greater than the parochial 3D GoDDD, never as shallow as the 2D GoDD, and really the 1D GoD is just a human word/acronym sort of thing meaning Go-Dogma and totally open to local interpretation/spin.
"Dogma affected never reason effective." Oldhawk777
Final words: "Party on and be excellent to one another." George
George was one of the best of US with the "Right Stuff". %~G
Sanity by mandate is highly over-rated by US.
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Re:Smiling down. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
To those who don't get the reference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PiZSFIVFiU [youtube.com]
You may unsaddle your high-horse now.
Re:Smiling down. (Score:4, Insightful)
First, i recognize that the GP is joking and that George Carlin was an athiest. Anyway, if this article was about a christian, would you say that "Anyone who mentions "decaying into the earth" in this article should be modded down"? Or if it was a buddhist would you attack athiestic or christian beliefs? I'm actually agnostic, but my point is that what happens after death is not decided by the beliefs of the dead, it's in the mind of the living, as no one really knows...
Lighten up Francis... (Score:5, Funny)
Keep it funny... here's another random quote: "If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, doesn't it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted?"
--George Carlin
Re:Smiling down. (Score:5, Informative)
Anybody who mentions athiesm in a thread about a Christian's death should be modded flamebait or troll. Have a littlke respect, for God's sake.
From the same Wikipedia article: [wikipedia.org]
Carlin also joked that he worshipped the Sun, because he could actually see it, but prayed to Joe Pesci (a good friend of his in real life) because "he's a good actor", and "looks like a guy who can get things done!"[40]
Carlin also introduced the "Two Commandments", a revised "pocket-sized" list of the Ten Commandments in his HBO special Complaints and Grievances, ending with the additional commandment of "Thou shalt keep thy religion to thyself."[41]
Re:Smiling down. (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Tut Tut! is that any way to speak around Thomas the Tank Engine?
We will miss you Mr Conductor...
71 - he must have died happy (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Smiling down. (Score:4, Insightful)
Excepting for the fact that he would have called you a fucking moron for even suggesting that there is an "up there".
Re:Smiling down. (Score:5, Funny)
I've only got 7 things to say about this tragic loss of one of my favorite guys for humor and social commentary:
Shit......piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker....and tits.
R.I.P. George.
Re:Smiling down. (Score:5, Funny)
::sound of audience clapping as Carlin takes the stage::
(slight pause as he waits for the applause to die down)
"Why... Why is it that most people who are against abortion are people you wouldn't want to fuck in the first place?"
That was truly one of the greatest facepalm.jpg moments of my life. Suffice to say that the rest of the evening was a bit awkward.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Even in all his rantings (he got a little less jovial after his wife died) he really didn't mock the individual specifically for believing something... he mocked the powerful, the privileged, and those who wanted to make a buck off the spritual nature of man... (the Pope included.) In other words, he poked holes in the pompous blowhards who think they know better than we do about ourselves and our own lives. If I got anything from his comedy (besides a sore side from laughing so hard), it was this: You ar
Re:Smiling down. (Score:5, Funny)
And God is patting him on the back saying: "Thanks for trying to clear up the 10 commandments thing".
Re:Smiling down. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Smiling down. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Smiling down. (Score:5, Funny)
Why? There are plenty here already.
Layne
Re:Smiling down. (Score:4, Interesting)
Jeebus, though! Tim Russert is barely in the ground and then the greatest comedy legend of all time goes belly up! This is turning into a lousy month!
Carlin was certainly one of the best. I can remember seeing him at ODU back in the early 1990s ('93 or '94?). He was as funny then as his recent tours today. The world will be a different place without him. R.I.P., funnyman!
Re:Smiling down. (Score:5, Funny)
Smiling? I bet not, but if he's got that kind of view, he's probably doing something on us.
Sure wish it'd stop raining.
Re:Smiling down. (Score:5, Interesting)
Earlier this morning I was thinking about how with as much media as we have these days, and the so many types of "celebrity" that exist, soon we're quickly approaching a future where someone famous is going to be dying pretty much constantly. The cnn.com homepage will become just a slideshow of who died today, while real news websites will decide that it's not worth the trouble and maybe just move those sorts of stories to a little sidebar somewhere.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
As George would say no they don't always go in threes. They go in a series of ONES!
Re:de mortuis nil nisi bonum but ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Carlin's classic material tended to rant about things he hated, with the implication that he - and those who agree with him - are superior.
Only the insecure feel the need to apologize for other people's inadequacies.
Re:de mortuis nil nisi bonum but ... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:de mortuis nil nisi bonum but ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Those seven words... (Score:3, Informative)
Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker, and Tits.
Tits is now depreciated.
Re:Those seven words... (Score:5, Funny)
speak for yourself buddy...
_I_ still appreciate tits.
Re:Those seven words... (Score:4, Funny)
I really like the new Nabisco Tits. They're my favorite snack.
Re:Those seven words... (Score:5, Funny)
Tits is now depreciated.
Re:Those seven words... (Score:4, Funny)
Oh yeah I almost forgot: Cocksucker!
Other words... (Score:5, Funny)
Temperature at the airport is 73......which is stupid 'cause I don't know anyone that lives at the airport..."
Re:Other words... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Those seven words... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Those seven words... (Score:4, Funny)
Probably due to George Carlin. He makes an argument for its depreciation in his routine."
"And tits shouldn't even be on the list..I mean, it sounds like a snack!!
New...Nabisco TITS!!
Cheese tits....onion tits....TATER Tits!!
Re:Those seven words... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Those seven words... (Score:5, Funny)
Depreciation: assets with finite lives lose value over time.
Deprecated: features that are superseded and should be avoided.
Q: What does an 80-year-old have between her tits that an 18-yer-old doesn't?
A: Her bellybutton.
Sounds to me like tits are assets with finite lives that lose their value over time ...
Sad :( (Score:5, Insightful)
We'll see him again (Score:5, Funny)
He's just gone into the future to the time when the Wyld Stallyns music forms the basis of society.
A great man is lost (Score:5, Insightful)
We held a little ceremony here before. Carlin was a truly great man. A voice against censorship and generally against rampant stupidity as well.
May his memory live long and someone crop up and continue on in his great tradition of telling the 'system' to go fuck itself.
Best Summary of Religion (Score:5, Insightful)
You will be missed, pal.
"In the Bullshit Department, a businessman can't hold a candle to a clergyman. 'Cause I gotta tell you the truth, folks. When it comes to bullshit, big-time, major league bullshit, you have to stand in awe of the all-time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims: religion. No contest. No contest. Religion. Religion easily has the greatest bullshit story ever told.
Think about it. Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man -- living in the sky -- who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time!
But He loves you.
He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money! He's all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can't handle money! Religion takes in billions of dollars, they pay no taxes, and they always need a little more. Now, you talk about a good bullshit story. Holy Shit!"
-George Carlin
Re:Best Summary of Religion (Score:5, Insightful)
I was watching him in Dogma [imdb.com] just this weekend. That opening with him introducing the "Jesus Wow!" campaign still cracks me up.
He'll be missed.
Semantics (Score:5, Interesting)
"Get 'on' the plane, get 'on' the plane..."
"Fuck you, I'm getting *IN* the plane."
I started listening to "Class Clown" in 3rd or 4th grade. I always liked his insight, even if he did seem to get quit bitter over the past few years. I always liked his take on growing up in Morningside Heights. He always said that saying you were from a place like Morningside Heights would get you beat up, so he liked to say he was from "White Harlem."
His routine on "Shell Shock vs. Post Traumatic Stress-Disorder" rings very true.
Re:Semantics (Score:5, Informative)
Good choices, though I was always a fan of the Baseball vs. Football [baseball-almanac.com] routine.
And he's right on about Hockey: [boredatuni.com]
Hockey comes to mind. People think hockey is a sport. It's not. Hockey is three activities taking place at the same time: ice skating, fooling around with a puck, and beating the shit out of somebody.
RIP man.
Re:Semantics (Score:4, Funny)
"I listen very carefully to the safety lecture, especially that part where they teach us how to use the seat belts. Imagine this, here we are, a plane full of grown human beings, many of us partially educated, and they're actually taking time out to describe the intricate workings of a belt buckle."
"'In the unlikely event of a water landing...', Well, what exactly is a water landing? Am I mistaken, or does this sound somewhat similar to crashing into the ocean?!"
"Which brings me to terminal - another unfortunate word to be used in association with air travel. And they use it all over the airport, don't they? Somehow I just can't get hungry at a place called the Terminal Snack bar. But, if you've ever eaten there, you know it IS an appropriate name."
The great thing about Carlin is that it's obvious when he goes overboard for comedy's sake, so his comedy about the obviously overboard is always relevant. Rest in peace, George.
God Damnit! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:God Damnit! (Score:4, Funny)
There are two words, as George would tell you...
"You're fucked"
RIP George...
Re:God Damnit! (Score:5, Interesting)
At least you got the tickets. I decided at the last minute that 500+ miles round trip was too much for Jimi Hendrix in '69. Ditto when my parents said, "You've been working all summer without a break. Why don't you take the car this weekend and see this Janis Joplin singer?" Can't be that many double losers. Gotta see 'em when they're still here.
In vein of the man himself... (Score:5, Insightful)
With nothing but contempt for modern humanity and politics, I highly doubt he'd want anyone to mourn.
So I'll tell it like it is.
Today an great man died.
He was a foul-mouthed rat-bastard hippy conspiracy theorist.
May his soul be blessed by whoever gives a damn.
And don't forget his favorite cheer: (Score:4, Funny)
Rat shit, bat shit, dirty old twat.
Sixty nine assholes tied in a knot.
Hooray, lizard shit, fuck!
Cock-Sucker (Score:3, Insightful)
Well fuck. Who's going to call everyone on their bullshit now?
Re:Cock-Sucker (Score:5, Funny)
Well fuck. Who's going to call everyone on their bullshit now?
Re:Cock-Sucker (Score:4, Interesting)
While not in the same league as Carlin or Stewart, I tend to find the spoken word performances of Henry Rollins to be funny and he has a tendency to point out everyone's bullshit.
Re:Cock-Sucker (Score:4, Insightful)
I wonder if he got his two-minute warning? (Score:5, Funny)
"Two minutes... get your shit together..."
May he rest in peace.
Words to live by (Score:5, Insightful)
He's moved on, departed from the Big Electron. He was a giant and will be missed. I have taken one of his phrases to heart:
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that."
RIP Mr Carlin.
Think of the children... (Score:4, Interesting)
RIP George, now you really are a fucking legend
Maybe he needed to die (Score:5, Interesting)
Don't get me wrong, I loved Carlin all my life, but one of the things that was pissing him off lately was the fact that people weren't questioning government or religion as much as they used to be, and by all measure, things are getting worse.
Maybe this shock will wake up some people. Maybe the inevitable memorials will spark a renewal of the rebellious spirit.
I only hope so.
As a fellow atheist, I have come to accept that people only live on as the effect they've had on the world. For a relatively brief time in history, the world had a great jester and poet, lets all take time to remember him in or lives.
man what a bummer (Score:5, Funny)
-George Carlin, Life Is Worth Losing, Beacon Theater, HBO
Bad news to wake up to. (Score:5, Insightful)
Along with Bill Hicks, George Carlin was my absolute favorite comedian. What they did was much more than just comedy, though. The reason I loved George so much, just as with Bill, was because, in the process of making you laugh so hard, they also made you think. George had the ability to make you see how ridiculous certain things really were, even if you didn't want to.
So long, George. You're irreplaceable.
He's in heaven now. (Score:4, Funny)
Bwahahahahaha.
Thanks George for all the laughs.
make sure to ask Jesus for the big porkchop.
To those who say "grumpy old man"... (Score:3, Insightful)
...and enjoyed his past material should look at themselves. Maybe you've become the very thing George satirizes?
Are we sure he's dead? (Score:4, Funny)
I'm not claiming to have an insight line on the mind of George Carlin but it seems like he'd be the kind of person to announce his death a little early, just so he can stick around for all that follows. And if he didn't do this, he really should have. Nothing would be funnier than seeing his response to comments like "he must be up there now smiling down on us." "What the hell? Who the fuck are you to promote me to your vision of an afterlife just because I made you laugh? Let me tell you something, asshole: when I really do snuff it, if I find out I've got wings and a halo because you liked my seven dirty words routine, I'm coming back and cramming my harp right up your ass."
Re:Stern (Score:4, Interesting)
I thought he was funny 20 years ago when he was topical. In his recent stuff, I just saw him as a bitter old hippy, taking cheap pot shots at the Republican establishment. I saw no humor or insight, just a bunch of cursing, whining, and hypocrisy. The early stuff, the routines that made his reputation, were outstandingly funny.
Re:Stern (Score:5, Insightful)
I think when his wife died it really changed him and his routines. I still found him funny, but he came off very angry.
Re:Stern (Score:5, Insightful)
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You and your buddies are the 25% who are stupid enough to still believe in the Bush Administration. My guess is that you're the kind of person who think never changing one's opinion is somehow a virtue. Good luck with that, fool
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I think he discovered he could make just as much money by making fun of government (which, let's be honest here, doesn't take much effort) and rehashing his best bits as he could by writing tons of new material at considerable effort. And I think he was just cynical enough to laugh at that fact, and exploit the hell out of it.
If I were in charge of the networks (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm tired of television announcers, hosts, newscaster, and commentators, nibbling away at the English language, making obvious and ignorant mistakes. If I were in charge of America's broadcast stations and networks, I would gather together all the people whose jobs include speaking to the public, and I would not let them out of the room until they had absorbed the following suggestions. I'm aware that media personalities are not selected on the basis of intelligence. I know that, and I try to make allowances for it. Believe me, I really try. But still ⦠There are some liberties taken with speech that I think require intervention, if only for my own sake. I won't feel right if this chance goes by, and I keep my silence.
The English word forte, meaning "specialty" or "strong point," is not pronounced "for-tay." Got that? It is pronounced "fort." The Italian word forte, used in music notation, is pronounced "for-tay," and it instructs the musician to play loud: "She plays the skin flute, and her forte [fort] is playing forte [for-tay]." Look it up. And don't give me that whiny shit, "For-tay is listed as the second preference." There's a reason it's second: because it's not first!
Irony deals with opposites; it has nothing to do with coincidence. If two baseball palyers from the same hometown, on different teams, receive the same uniform number, it is not ironic. It is a coincidence. If Barry Bonds attains lifetime statistics identical to his father's it will not be ironic. It will be a coincidence. Irony is "a state of affairs that is the reverse of what was to be expected; a result opposite to and in mockery of the appropriate result." For instance:
* If a diabetic, on his way to buy insulin, is killed by a runaway truck, he is the victim of an accident. If the truck was delivering sugar, he is the victim of an oddly poetic coincidence. But if the truck was delivering insulin, ah! Then he is the victim of an irony.
* If a Kurd, after surviving bloody battle with Saddam Hussein's army and a long, difficult escape through the mountains, is crushed and killed by a parachute drop of humanitarian aid, that, my friend, is irony writ large.
* Darryl Stingley, the pro football player, was paralyzed after a brutal hit by Jack Tatum. Now Darryl Stingley's son plays football, and if the son should become paralyzed while playing, it will not be ironic. It will be coincidental. If Darryl Stingley's son paralyzes someone else, that will be closer to ironic. If he paralyzes Jack Tatum's son that will be precisely ironic.
I'm tired of hearing prodigal being used to mean "wandering, given to running away or leaving and returning." The parable in the Book of Luke tells of a son who squanders his father's money. Prodigal means "recklessly wasteful or extravagant." And if you say popular usage has changed that, I say, fuck popular usage!
The phrase sour grapes does not refer to jealousy or envy. Nor is it related to being a sore loser. It deals with the rationalization of failure to attain a desired end. In the original fable by Aesop, "The Fox and the Grapes," when the fox realizes he cannot leap high enough to reach the grapes, he rationalizes that even if he had gotten them, they would probably have been sour anyway. Rationalization, that's all sour grapes means. It doesn't mean deal with jealousy or sore losing. Yeah, I know you say, "Well many people are using it that way, so the meaning is changing." And I say, "Well many people are really fuckin' stupid too, shall we just adopt all their standards?"
Strictly speaking, celibate does not mean not having sex, it means not being married. No wedding. The practice of refraining from sex is called chastity or sexual abstinence. No fucking. Priests don't take a vow of celibacy, they take a vow of chastity. Sometimes referred to as the "no-nookie clause."
And speaking of sex, the Immaculate Conception does not mean Jesus was concieved in the
Re:If I were in charge of the networks (Score:5, Insightful)
And exactly why the Mark Twain award is so fitting for George - Twain has long been for me the model for precise usage of language - and Carlin was a modern example.
I'm sad to see him gnoe - one less funny (and wise) fucker in the world.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:If I were in charge of the networks (Score:5, Informative)
excerpt from George Carlin's book, Brain Droppings.
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Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
And if you say popular usage has changed that, I say, fuck popular usage!
Don we now our gay apparrel
Tra la la
Tra la la
la la la
"Is deck the Halls about a transvestite, Grandpa?"
celibate does not mean not having sex
Only if "hacker" doesn't mean "cyburgler"
You wouldn't say, "as welcome as a turd in the proverbial punchbowl
You would if the phrase had become a cliche'.
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"He was a bit cynical in his later years...".
I thought he was funny 20 years ago when he was topical. In his recent stuff, I just saw him as a bitter old hippy, taking cheap pot shots at the Republican establishment. I saw no humor or insight, just a bunch of cursing, whining, and hypocrisy. The early stuff, the routines that made his reputation, were outstandingly funny.
Nonsense. His politics have been part of his routine for over 20 years: back in the 80s, he was criticizing "Ronald Reagan and his criminal gang" (as he put it). Agree with his ideology or not, he's always been topical.
But yes, he became cankier as he aged. IMO it suited him.
Re:More info for those of us who aren't in the US. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:The unfortunate corollary... (Score:4, Insightful)
What fucking world do you live in that you don't have an alternative?
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I'd take it, but I'd have to move some of my stuff, or, buy bigger place to put my stuff and his stuff together.
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Um.... I believe the word you're looking for is "coincidental".