Talk like a...

[lynxreign]

Everyone knows about Talk Like a Pirate Day.
While reading garrity's lj, I was struck by the lack of a Talk Like A Beatnik Day. We need a day like this.
I mean, without this day, we'll loose important cultural heritage, man! Like a whole way of speaking would circle the drain. Freedom, man, freedom itself would be forgotten if we're forgetting our roots of fighting the man, man. I mean wow. Like the Universe would sigh and rain its woe on the heads of future generations. Where would the Scoo-dop-a-wah come from to inspire the kids? What would happen to all the bongoes? Bongo Heaven, man, Bongo Heaven. And no more snapping to applaud the cool? That way lies the 80s, man, and its conformist, soul crushing bone-itis. How're the cats gonna swing free? Like how'll they know Howl? You gotta sing man and by sing I mean groove. By groove I mean swing loose. Loose like the lions on the waves, man! Swimming their freedom 'cause they're not gonna let the man tell 'em where to stand!
What was I talking about again?
Oh yeah, The Man, man! He can't make you work when you need to jive, so tell him where to put it and find yourself a coffee house, like a real one. It's gotta be real or its all, like fake, man, fake.

Comments

[lynxreign.livejournal.com]

I'm telling you, all you can do is get yourself frozen and hope there's a cure someday. That is, if the man lets it happen. I mean, there's cats that wanna study the healing nature of pot and the man just keeps 'em down. One day, those bastards'll pay.

[hagbardc.livejournal.com]

It's like silence man...it's like ....

[neogrammarian.livejournal.com]

Dude, I live the Land of 1,000 Hippies. EVERY day is Talk Like a Beatnik Day, here.

[lynxreign.livejournal.com]

Hippies don't talk like beatniks, they talk like hippies. They're less focused and more "mother earth"y and "New agey" and full of "Dude", which no self-respecting beatnik would ever utter.

[neogrammarian.livejournal.com]

I beg to disagree. I really do live in the Land of 1,000 Hippies, and they don't speak like beatniks, they speak exactly like your post here.

(Do recall that there was serious overlap between the communities- although Kerouac himself didn't make the progression, most of the rest of that crew ended up serious hippies before the 60s were out. The rhetorics are quite similar.)

(oh god. I've studied & taught this too much, haven't I?)

[lynxreign.livejournal.com]

It was a younger generation that became hippies. The beats paid more attention to grooming and philosophy. Some may have switched, but certainly not the ones from the 30s to the early 50s.
It also depends on the rhythm of the speech and that doesn't translate well to the page. Hippie is more rambling and drifty than beat. Beat has a drive to it, a "beat" if you will.

[aidosaur.livejournal.com]

Yeaaah, man. *snap snap snap*

[ioianthe.livejournal.com]

forget Jack Sparrow, give me Maynard G. Krebs!

[lynxreign.livejournal.com]

Exactly!
I miss that show, you can't find it anywhere these days.

[wizardru.livejournal.com]

When could you? First I ever heard about it was then they did the Dobie Gillis reunion show.

[ioianthe.livejournal.com]

It used to be on nick at night MANY moons ago... in the good company of F-Troop and Get Smart.

[lynxreign.livejournal.com]

When I was young, they used to show it on various cable or UHF channels. 9 showed it for awhile, along with Car 54 Where Are You, Life of Riley and McKale's Navy. I think it was on Nick at Night for a bit too.

[wizardru.livejournal.com]

See, the thing is that everybody knows how to speak like a Pirate....speaking like a beat isn't as widely known or as distinctive. Saying 'man' and 'like' a lot could be hippie as well as beats. All beatnik says to me is 'goatee' and maybe 'daddio'.

And how does the beatnik fit into the Pirate-Ninja-Dinosaur rivalry?

[ioianthe.livejournal.com]

Pirate-Ninja-Dinosaur
that should be the new "rock/paper/scissors"

[lynxreign.livejournal.com]

What hand symbols would you use to represent them and which beats which?

[ioianthe.livejournal.com]

Ninja- thumb on top of fist, like you are going to throw a shuriken
Pirate- Crossed fingers, representing pirate luck and x marks the spot
Dinosaur- make a claw with your hand, because you're a dinosaur!

Pirate beats Dinosaur, Dinosaur beats Ninja, Ninja beats Pirate

[aidosaur.livejournal.com]

I dunno, I'm largely under the impression that dinosaur beats everything.

[lynxreign.livejournal.com]

No, no, Beatnik beats everything. They're the "beats" after all.

[lynxreign.livejournal.com]

Got it! Sounds good to me.

[head58.livejournal.com]

Ninja beats Pirate

You know, massive, earth-scorching flamewars have been started over this very topic.

[ioianthe.livejournal.com]

I was hesitant to make the claim for that very reason... but it all stems from the idea that ninjas taste better to dinosaurs because they are cleaner but I suppose that the rules could be customized to fit ones own philosophies re: pinjas/ninrates

[lynxreign.livejournal.com]

No! It must be standardized or using it as a decision making tool is LOST!

[ioianthe.livejournal.com]

agreed. I watched my brother and his friends do rock paper scissors at one point recently and there were nukes and volcanoes and tsunami and no clear definition of what beat what. It was chaos incarnate.

[lynxreign.livejournal.com]

How old are they?
I'd have to say Volcano beats nuke, tsunami beats volcano and nuke beats tsunami.

[ioianthe.livejournal.com]

they're 11... and very silly. Their game is not circular like standard "RPS and new forms can spawn without warning (ie: you throw nukes, I throw asteroids... next you throw asteroids I throw superman) It might even be about who can best explain why theirs wins!

[lynxreign.livejournal.com]

See, I'd go with the explanation thing, 'cause then you're working off consensus.

[lynxreign.livejournal.com]

I think it might be harder to find a topic that hasn't done that.
And it all ends up as a circle here, less to fight about.

[lynxreign.livejournal.com]

Beatnik vs Hippie is all in the inflection.
The Beatnik interprets the Pirate-Ninja-Dinosaur rivalry in poetry for the masses. He doesn't get involved because he doesn't want to impose his rules on them.

[emmalyon.livejournal.com]

Have I told you about the guy who is lving in a camper in my neighborhood, and who I have heard playing the bongos at 6 AM as I walked past? If he ain't a beatnik, he should be....

[lynxreign.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's fairly Beatnik.