Every time I’m asked to write a philosophical paper I always
think of a bird. This isn’t a philosophical paper, considering we’re talking
about the n word. A bird though, really?
I always wondered when they would rule the world. With their beaks,
once, I saw a clown and dared to never go to a supermarket again. Did you know
that society overall is the n word. Most people don’t think it is but it is
because I know. I know because it is. Take that general population! I mean why
are we even living?? It’s just [n-word]! But you know I have always liked
candy, I love the way it tingles in your mouth and your brain is like WHAAAAA!
Yeah it’s great! I bet you birds like candy or maybe not, they already seem as
though they have too much energy. I’m making myself seem as though I have many
birds but I don’t. The only pets I had were goldfish and one hamster but they
all _________. Yeah depressing right. I always wonder about time. 12:30, 4:36,
7:34, 2:13, 9:23, 4:24:0:23, 6:2345, 537:89 and what without time would this
world/universe combust into the sun to maintain a pressure equivalent to what
were living under on earth but around Jupiter and mars but oh Saturn can be
included to. Naps act like they know you but then they go ahead and cheat you
behind your back. They gang up with time and cheat you so when you arrive to
the castle you don’t even notice how much time you lost. I believe there is
sense in the ground. The ground makes sense; I mean how could it not. “The
Brady Bunch, the Brady Bunch oh howwwww I love the Brady Bunch do li do do do
do do loo loo.” Man I always thought that Mom was cray cray. I mean who has
that many kids and maintain a picturesque lifestyle. [n-word] Now
Roseanne-“What doesn’t kill us is making us stronger, were gonna last longer
than the great big wall of china and something I don’t know!” Horn solo- Yup I
mean Rose shows strength whereas, the Brady Bunch sound like the Crazy Bunch.
Whatever hits your cup of tea I guess? Oh but a guy puts targets on his body to
only get hit with weird things. Then he’s bleeding and soaked a napkin with
blood. Can you pour alcohol on it? Don’t think so! Anyway, Chinese music! Have
you ever heard of Dales? Dales are small whale animals that live in your back
and are there when you are born. They protect you and they come from Atlantis.
Mermaids can reproduce with them but then they obviously grow a fin or feet,
don’t know yet? Anyways, they don’t live in your back anymore, unless they do
and you’re dragged to Atlantis. Oh, wait then you would drown. Well that’s
unfortunate for you I guess. It’s great for your Dale though! I think that her
eyes are weird because they change everyday. But kinda cool too I guess!
These 500 words of nonsense have a few similarities with the texts that we have read so far. The sentences here comply with English syntax and morphology, so that if you grab any one sentence from the paragraph, you can imagine a context where somebody might say that and it will “make sense”. The nonsense part factors in where each sentence has few or no connections to those surrounding it. It reads very much like stream of consciousness poetry, and I think we can call it such.
ReplyDeleteThere are some particulars the stick out as nonsensical: the “___”, entities that seem like impossible times (“4:24:0:23”), self-censoring (“[n-word]”), and various onomatopoeia. These things draw attention to themselves even further due to the stark contrast to elements that do “make sense”. E.g. things that appear normal to us like “12:30, 4:36” morph into “6:2345, 537:89”, degrading (or upgrading?) into nonsense similarly to how Alice’s world morphs from the expected, normal world to a complete wonderland. Onomatopoeia also seems to be a recurring element through many “500 words of nonsense” submissions, so maybe something about using noise instead of words reminds people of nonsense, despite it sometimes being the most accurate way to convey an idea. Can something that is a source of clarity (and sense-making) also be a source of nonsense?
Lastly, I am very intrigued by the television references in this piece (to The Brady Bunch and Roseanne). I think that the piece as a whole produces a feeling like channel-surfing on a tv. Certain sentences come up from seemingly nowhere, just like tuning in to the middle of a show and then skipping onto the next. This is another reminder that even though something may be “nonsense”, it may still provide content and meaning (whether intentional or not).