Today I'm linking to Meg Cabot's blog, because I think her post really speaks to why so many of us grown-ups go ga-ga over YA literature. It also relates to the discussion of optimism in my most recent post--both in terms of the craft, and in regards to Cabot's life. I had no idea she has survived so much in her life, which makes me admire her success even more.
I will just make a brief linguistics-related comment. (I am fascinated by linguistics and language, and very much regret not taking a linguistics class in college, or really very many classes at all besides those that I thought you needed to go to law school, because that's what I thought I wanted to do since I was twelve, and I never questioned it till much later. Ha, I also like run-on, stream-of-consciousness sentences.):
I absolutely hate this new trend of calling everything people love to indulge in as guilty pleasures (wedding shows, home-decor magazines, cute-animal websites) "p*rn." I don't even want the word on my blog because I hate it and how it's become so trivialized--the more it's used for innocuous things, the more the real stuff gets treated as mainstream and not at all problematic. And it is problematic, people. (I did find room in my schedule take Women and Gender Studies 101 in college, obviously. ; P ) The root of the word p*rnography comes from the word for "slave/prostitute." It's not fun or cool or deserving of a cutesy nickname.
Also, dictionary.com defines it as: "obscene writings, drawings, photgraphs, or the like, esp. those having little or no artistic merit." 'Nuff said.
- L'Editrice
I agree with your sentiments about porn and how it's used so frivolously now. Obviously, word usage changes all the time, but ones that refer to major social abhorrations just shouldn't be thrown around so lightly.
ReplyDeleteYay, I have a reader! And it's my cool friend, Nancy, who I come to discover also has a great blog. Thanks for being my first commenter, Nancy!
ReplyDelete