English Rules

Popeye Doll

June 6, 2004

Saturday morning I took the kids to the YMCA so they could jump around and climb on things in the kids' gym while I tried get a little exercise. While I was lumbering along on the treadmill I glanced up at the closed captioning for a report that was showing on CNN. The first thing I saw was that "Popeye Doll Will Young" was nominated for a British music award. It took me a minute to realize that they were referring to the Pop Idol Will Young. I know it's really quite dumb, but for some reason it made me laugh and almost sent me reeling off the treadmill. Those things are dangerous if half the foot lands on the conveyer belt and the other half lands on the stationary platform.

Comments (1)

1leslie wrote:

oh Karl...now that I've actually looked in detail around your website, I have yet another thing to distract me from my ever-pressing work at the federal government. Being rather challenged at writing and speaking english correctly (I'm an economist, remember), I especially enjoy the 'language' section of the website. I, too, have tried to decipher the closed captions while at the gym on a treadmill, and wondered what person was actually sitting back and writing that stuff in real time. There have been some real doozies (is 'doozies' a word?), but at least it gives you something to think about while you run endlessly on a three-foot wide piece of rubber.

Jul 8, 2004 ; 11:40 AM

Post a Comment

(you may use HTML tags for style)

Notify me when others comment on this entry.


Comment Notification

I don't want to comment now, but please notify me when others comment on this entry:

Email:

Notify Me
Stop Notifying Me

In This Section

All Entries

Search

+ Advanced Search

Recently
in my life...

  • thinking about how to create a memory game using jQuery UI — Thu, Aug 28 at 8:16 am
  • Yikes! Looks like this jQuery bug that I posted 2 yrs ago has mutated into a more virulent strain. Link — Wed, Aug 27 at 1:20 pm
  • Call me old fashioned, but I have a knee-jerk reaction against any tutorial with "spectacular" or "amazing" or "gorgeous" etc. in its title. — Wed, Aug 27 at 1:03 pm
  • Can't keep up with all the tweets. Too compulsive to ignore them. What to do? — Tue, Aug 26 at 8:39 pm

More of the same

Recent Comments

cmsix on Why the Button Fly?: What do you do when your cheap…

Andrew DeBoer on Running in America: I presume the writer means that all…

Dad on Running in America: "Sponsors target the losers"? I'm clueless about…

Karl on Gardening: cdj -- what Diane said. Diane, I…

Diane on Gardening: Gardening is a lot like everything in…

Site Info

Elsewhere

My Bookshelf

Reading Now
  • Staggerford: A Novel
  • Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World
  • unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity... and Why It Matters
  • Light: Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting
Just Read
  • JavaScript: The Definitive Guide
  • The Art of Learning: A Journey in the Pursuit of Excellence
  • The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World
  • Jesus and Nonviolence: A Third Way (Facets)
On the Shelf
  • Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software (Addison-Wesley Professional Computing Series)
  • Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
  • Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life
  • The Elephant Vanishes: Stories
  • The Catcher in the Rye
  • The Tenacity of the Cockroach: Conversations with Entertainment's Most Enduring Outsiders

© Karl Swedberg

widescreen bonus!

+ Blogroll

Noteworthy Articles

Hoping It's Biden (New York Times)

Barack Obama has decided upon a vice-presidential running mate. And while I don't know who it is as I write, for the good of the country, I hope he picked Joe Biden...

The Candidate We Still Don?t Know (New York Times)

Most Americans still don't know, as Marshall writes, that on the campaign trail "McCain frequently forgets key elements of policies, gets countries' names wrong, forgets things he?s said only hours or days before and is frequently just confused." ...

Is Jon Stewart the Most Trusted Man in America? (New York Times)

Mr. Stewart describes his job as "throwing spitballs" from the back of the room and points out that "The Daily Show" mandate is to entertain, not inform. Still, he and his writers have energetically tackled the big issues of the day...

10 Things to Scratch From Your Worry List (NYTimes.com)

I?ve rounded up a list of 10 things not to worry about on your vacation.

The Disadvantages of an Elite Education (The American Scholar)

Our best universities have forgotten that the reason they exist is to make minds, not careers...z

We're Not Laughing at You, or With You (NYTimes.com)

Let's talk about the bloody crossroads where satire goes searching for its target...

Turf War (The New Yorker)

Americans can?t live without their lawns--but how long can they live with them?

Graffiti artist Banksy unmasked (Daily Mail)

He is perhaps the most famous, or infamous, artist alive. To some a genius, to others a vandal. Always controversial, he inspires admiration and provokes outrage in equal measure...

Behind the Bush Bust - Op-Ed (New York Times)

Other politicians besides Mr. Bush share the blame for the mess we?re in ? but most of them are Republicans...

On Day Care, Google Makes a Rare Fumble (NYTimes.com)

Parents who had been paying $1,425 a month for infant care would see their costs rise to nearly $2,500 ? well above the market rate. For parents with toddlers and preschoolers, who were charged less, the price increases were equally eye-popping

Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis (The Guardian)

Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than previously estimated - according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian...

Previewing McCain and Obama on geek issues

Last week, representatives for Barack Obama and John McCain addressed the Computers, Freedom, and Privacy conference on topics ranging from NSA surveillance to net neutrality to the competitiveness of American workers in the new economy...

Want to Remember Everything You'll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm (W...

SuperMemo is based on the insight that there is an ideal moment to practice what you've learned. Practice too soon and you waste your time. Practice too late and you've forgotten the material and have to relearn it...

David Blaine - This Time, He'll Be Left Breathless (New York Times)

As a doctor monitored his heart and his blood and breathing, David Blaine filled his lungs with pure oxygen and prepared to hold his breath -- for 16 minutes, he hoped. Mr. Blaine is a famous magician, but he insisted that this was no trick...

Happiness is the measure of true wealth (Telegraph)

It comes as no surprise to learn from a study published this week that, although Britons are twice as rich as they were in 1987, they are no happier...