Re: CHAT Latin sig? (was: Conlang Flags)

On Mon, 6 Sep 2004 23:22:35 -0400, Roger Mills <rfmilly@...> wrote:

>Times like this, I wish I saved the long-ago "Bloom County" comic strip, the
>gist of which was "Even if 2,000,000 people say (do?) it, it's still wrong."
>So suitable to so many occasions.
>
>(Later) Unbelievable...! Blessings on google! I found it on-line; not quite
>as I remembered it, but still
>apt--http://www.angelfire.com/vamp/shoopshoop/opus.html   About 2/3 of the
>way down; it starts with Opus saying "May I interject with a parable about
>foolishness?"
Berke Breathed is a genius.  Apropos of linguistics, note:
- Opus tests the applicability of "penguin" against the prototypical meaning
of "bird".
- Opus takes euphemism to a new level: "sanitation engineer" is now "waste
management artisan".

Breathed was also prescient:
- Opus makes fun of the lyrics of "Every Breath You Take".  Sting gets so
disheartened by couples who call it their song (ignoring the meaning of its
lyrics) that he makes fun of it in several other songs ("every cake you
bake", clearly inspired by Opus' "every herring you bake").
- Opus wants a restaurant without smokers;  who could have imagined in the
1980s that by 2004 in America it would be illegal to smoke in restaurants in
many states?

Since the above link violates Berke's copyright, I should point out that you
can subscribe to the online archive of "Bloom County" at:
http://www.mycomicspage.com/

I do!

Jeffrey