Rather to my suprise, I find that I am currently the lone Google search return for "enormous, obscene sculpture", and the top return (of only 4) for "obscene sculpture"+"paper clips".
An interesting aside on that second search: it doesn't seem to matter whether you hyphenate 'paper-clips' (as I did in my original post on the topic on Thursday) or leave it as two separate words within inverted commas. However, if you use 'paperclips' as your search term, you don't get any returns at all. I can't recall ever seeing 'paperclips' written as one word, and suspect that it is a nasty American novelty. 'Paper clips' as two separate words no longer feels right to me either; that would tend to imply something - any 'clippy' thing - made of paper (unlikely, I know, but it could exist), rather than the more specific product designed for clipping paper together. As so often with the fusing together of nouns to create a new term, I think 'paperclips' will be our ultimate destination; but I don't think we're quite there yet. I still prefer the half-way house of hyphenation: 'paper-clips'. Is anyone else with me on that, or am I once again a lone fuddy-duddy crying in the wilderness?? Have I been swamped by the tide of 'current usage'?
A further aside. In a moment of brainfog back there ('brainfog', yes - it is my word, so I shall de-hyphen if I choose! What do you want from me - consistency?!) a moment ago, I typed 'paperlips'. Now that, I feel, would be a useful addition to the dictionary. It sounds like a hangover symptom, does it not?
But - as so often - I digress. What I had meant to say here was simply this: "Woo-hoo - my mind is a pretty original, perhaps even unique* thing, after all!"
Shall we now expect hordes of new visitors - assorted voyeurs and fetishists with a paper-clip fixation, or 'connoisseurs' of obscene sculpture?
We shall see. Tulsa is ready to receive you in the comment threads......
* See my recent comment-exchange with The British Cowboy over on the Barstool for my pedantic view on the use of the word 'unique'.
1 comment:
It's "paperclip", just like it is also "hairband" and "wristwatch."
And imagine the disappointment of those eager obscene-sculpture-paper-clip-seeking netizens as they click the link only to find a discussion on to-hyphen-or-not-to-hyphen.
You owe it to them to get that paper clip tower project completed. I say, it warrants a Sunday visit to the office. Off you go.
Speaking of Sunday Office Visits --- TBC - 3 weeks and counting?
p.s. Dearest Froog, I regret to inform you that your drug cocktail last night may have made you feel all warm and happy in the throat, but it certainly didn't help with the typos. 3 paras from the bottom (not including the asterisk), between the dashes...
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