>On Thu, 17 Oct 1996, Tom Maddox wrote:
>
>> >But what I really want to know is what is so ugly about butts?
>>
>> Isn't that a little like asking what's so bad about a prick when someone's
>> just been called one?
>>
>> Tom
>
>
>I'm not sure if it's what Tom was getting at here
My point was and remains very simple: "butt ugly" is an idiom, having
little if anything to do with actual butts, parked in chairs or ambulatory
elsewhere. I maintained that I find much of current theory butt ugly, and
so I do. When challenged to produce a sample I found ugly, I did.
>but I've sensed a lot
>of what Paul was calling attention to in this tangent/thread -- namely,
>evasion of personal and spiritual, evasion of a sense of ethos or ethics
>(in the simple sense of awareness that words are powerful) among a
>group of people who think highly of language and should not only know
>"about" its power, but also practice its power wisely and with care, imo.
Eek I'm not sure I'm up to all of this. I'm a writer, and I do the best I
can to make different things happen in words, depending on the situation,
my current state of mind, and so on.
A question, though: "evasion of personal and spiritual" *what*?
>Some of this "play" is not encouraging to me, and I do think it speaks of
>serious misunderstandings of the situation we're all in (a situation not
>well described by cereal-box or common sense versions of postmodernism).
And I confess I'm not at all sure what exactly is bothering you here. So a
couple more questions: What kinds of "serious misunderstandings" are you
talking about? And what situation is it that we're all--really, *all*?--in?
Tom