Every now and then I hear a line which comes off — well, differently — than the writer intended it. It might be because I’m a little off-kilter, and I’m usually the only one snickering when it happens. Some examples and my reactions:
- My favorite local band twenty years ago, going for dark imagery: “Night falls around here.” As opposed to other places, where night doesn’t fall.
- Lyrics to a song called Lost Boy: “As the smile fell from your face” And clattered to the floor?
- Dave Barry (a wonderful humor author) tipped me off to this one: “‘I am’… I said/To no one there/And no one heard at all/Not even the chair” Which sounds profound until you realize the man is talking to a chair. And expecting it to reply.
- Carolyn Jewel, I love you, but you named a romantic character “Durian”. Like the immensely stinky, spiky fruit that smells like old sweat socks.
- Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets — Honestly. You named the main character Valerian, which is an herbal medicine that induces sleep. And smells like old sweat socks. I love my romantic characters smelling like old sweat socks. No I don’t.
I wish I could say I was immune, but one of my first short stories had someone’s smile falling from their face. A professional presentation I gave as a grad student began with “The average American is getting older.” Glad I could impress you with my profundity.
Words Like Me 