Eric Zorn, a columnist in Chicago, enjoys being a "phrase coiner," though with Google and all, he has found it to be difficult.
For example, he used "puerile tumescence" to describe the way "The Office" has degenerated in the last few years. Lo and behold...it had been used in a 2010 flame war on a New Zealand-based Google Groups discussion. Then there was “blustery umbrage,” which also has been cited before.

Apparently prose now is searchable in the “Brobdingnagian archives,” of the Internet. What exactly are those?

Big library.

Brobdingnag was the land of the giants in Gulliver's Travels.

More specifically, I suspect it means Google Books, which allows you to search millions of published books for specific phrases, and other tools that are available on the Internet.

Zorn says that it's hard out there for a phrase coiner, but that does seem a little unfair; has he ever held himself out to be such? Who is this reader who googles his prose I wonder? Is he looking for something, perhaps?

I was slightly surprised that "puerile tumescence" didn't appear more often, in fact, and if I'd not been alerted would have thought it unremarkable.

I have never watched the US version of The Office (although it might be part of the viewing fare here on Canadian TV, which has much US trash on it)

But although I would agree that much of the original UK version of The Office was puerile, I'd not have described it as tumescent

You should try the American one. Apart from the last eleven episodes of the final series which contain that actress I refuse to watch, it's actually very good and only occasionally puerile.

The author (Eric Zorn) talks about what turned him off to the series. It does sound a little "puerile!"

I have never been able to get into the sit com, so I can't really be objective. Same goes for "Two and a Half Men."

I don't particularly like either version of The Office. The UK one was not so bad, in a cringeworthy way, but I found the US one much different. There are far more straight gags and "funny" situations and the idea that it's meant to be a fly-on-the-wall documentary has been almost lost. As I say, neither really appealed to me.

The American one has two things that the British doesn't - jokes, and a lead actor (Steve Carell) who understands comic timing.

By contrast the British one has things that Ricky Gervais thinks are funny and a lead actor (Ricky Gervais) who doesn't understand comic timic.

So, I don't get it. It is the same show, "The Office," but different people and different episodes? Then isn't it a different show?

Essentially the same concept with approximately the same characters (different actors of course) but one is set in the UK, the other in the USA. The first US season roughly follows the stories from the UK seasons but there are 176 episodes in eight seasons in the US and only 14 episodes in two seasons in the UK so the US takes it into a lot of areas that the UK doesn't.

There are also versions for various other countries.

Did it start in the UK? Are other shows like that?

The process goes both ways. Sometimes shows go west across the pond sometimes east. The Office is unusual in that it's quite so close (at least initially) to the original British format but it's happened for years. Comedies are especially prone to it but Life On Mars was a drama that came from us to you and the popular British comedy/drama "Shameless" has recently been remade in the US with William H Macy in the lead role.

Lists here and here.

"The Office" reminds me of Dilbert. I know many love the Dilbert cartoons, but I am not one of them; nor do I like "The Office" that much.

Do you have a "Two and a Half Men" show?

Not according to that list but I've never seen the American original

I think that Dilbert (and maybe The Office) probably appeal more to people who have worked in that environment and see how accurately absurd it is.

quote:

I think that Dilbert (and maybe The Office) probably appeal more to people who have worked in that environment and see how accurately absurd it is.

Or whose boss has been pointy-headed.

I've only worked in an office for one year of my life. Otherwise it's been in a setting that requires a blue shirt with my name sewed onto it - lest I forget, I assume. Nevertheless Dilbert resonates with me. Idiocy is not at all class-conscious. As for The Office, I don[t have a TV that receives whatever channel it's on, so cannot comment.

quote:

Do you have a "Two and a Half Men" show?

We can get that on the Comedy Channel (usually about 10 repeats a day - good job for them it's a long-running series). There isn't a UK-made equivalent, though.

We tend not to Anglicize American comedies - the American versions are generally shown - whereas the Americans tend to remake hit UK comedies for their home market, with varying degrees of success.

quote:

Originally posted by BobHale:
I think that Dilbert (and maybe The Office) probably appeal more to people who have worked in that environment and see how accurately absurd it is.

Absurd and yet horribly creepy, says this office grad. I know the American 'Office' only as occasional companion to my son's viewing habits.. somehow this 23y.o. small-biz worker has osmosed his parents' perspective [50-odd combined yrs in cubicledom] (otherwise how could he find it funny?)

All I'd decided about the Office phenomenon was that it came too close to many an anxious dream where I fid myself back in the office tower, colleagues mysteriously replaced by a skeleton crew of strangers, trying to look busy poring over a stack of antique files (& the elevator never works when you try to leave...).

--Until this thread sparked a bit of research. Found this piece that explains it well.

I'm finding 'Parks and Recreation' (another favorite of my son's) a fitting sequel, illustrating the through-the-looking-glass world of low-level gov't bureaucracy (sans "sociopaths", sans "clueless"), where Gervais' "unenlightened underperformers", once fired, find a home... that is, until the funding dries up, which is the other shoe the viewer hears dropping in the background.

All way too depressing for regular fare, in my opinion!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bethree5,

Ah, yes, and there is always Jersey Shore. Now, there's a show!

I have worked in an office for 9 years now, and I find neither "The Office" or Dilbert all that realistic. However, I think Dilbert would ring truer if you were in an IT type of office. I am not sure about "The Office."

Back to the phrase coiner part of this thread. So...I thought I'd put something into Google that I've been saying lately when I'm mad. I'd not heard or read it before, so naturally I thought I'd made it up. I am not proud of it, but I thought at least it was mine: Frick Face.

I looked it up in Google; it has 4,760 hits and is defined in Urban Dictionary. I thought it was all mine. Darn!

I remember "frick" from my adolescent years. These days, you still hear people using "frickin'" as a modifier.

Wordmatic

quote:

Originally posted by arnie:
I was slightly surprised that "puerile tumescence" didn't appear more often, in fact, and if I'd not been alerted would have thought it unremarkable.

Me too, Arnie--that is a phrase I have heard from time to time over the years. How the man could have thought it was his original coinage is beyond me.

WM

Just scrolling through the whole thread now and apologize for three separate posts. I cannot stand to watch either version of The Office. I don't find that brand of humor entertaining, no matter which side of the pond it comes from. But I love Ricky Gervais in some contexts. There is a video on YouTube of him singing a lullaby to Elmo on Sesame Street that is my grandson's favorite--and mine too. He can be hysterically funny on talk shows such as Jon Stewart's Daily Show. I just don't like the dirty tricks, thoughtless teenager side of his humor in other shows.

As for Dilbert, I find that to be intelligently amusing. You have to be part-techie to appreciate the frustrations of engineers and programmers trying to deal with managers who have no understanding whatsoever of computers or the Internet. As a former web-director/editor dealing with a college president who could never figure out how to attach a word document to an email, and would always call me for step-by-step instructions, I really resonate to Dilbert. There really are clueless pointy-headed bosses out there who are managing the tech-savvy, to the detriment of both.

Wordmatic

quote:

Originally posted by wordmatic:
I remember "frick" from my adolescent years. These days, you still hear people using "frickin'" as a modifier.

I do too and wonder how many of them realize that frick and frig are just euphemisms for a much earlier word.

Let's not forget Father Ted's "feck"

Let's not forget Father Ted's "feck"

A wonderful show! Frig as a verb also meant 'to masturbate' as early as the 19th century.

Tinman's link reminded me of "effing" I hear that a lot these days, in a variety of situations. I posted a picture of our puppy on my Facebook, and someone said, "Pretty effing cute!" It surprised me, partly because who had posted it.

Interesting, z, about "frig." People were masturbating way back then?

Here's a song that gets that "feck" in more than once. When I saw this a year ago, it was the first I'd heard the word. My church lady friends and I use it freely amongst ourselves as an acceptable giggle-worthy vulgarism.

Wordmatic

Oh, that's funny, WM! I wonder if it's more of a UK word.

quote:

Originally posted by Kalleh:
Tinman's link reminded me of "effing"

So a virgin is ineffable?

No, a virgin in unscrutable.

Jeepers, you were so gosh-darned concerned with the euphemism feck that you seem to have missed shite and arse.

quote:

Originally posted by Kalleh:
Oh, that's funny, WM! I wonder if it's more of a UK word.

So far as I know the word was created for the series "Father Ted", which was set in Ireland. And the airline the song referred to (although not mentioned by name) was Ryanair - an Irish carrier.

Fascinating Aida, who sang the song, is a British group, although they were singing with Irish accents and using faux-Irish slang.

That is interesting, Richard. I wonder why the Irish accent?

Wikipedia has an article about the word. What it doesn't really explain is that it's also used in Ireland as a mild expletive. The popularity of Father Ted has made it known here in the UK as well.

quote:

I wonder why the Irish accent?

I suspect they intend to drive home the message that they are signing about RyanAir. I imagine the'd get sued if they mentioned them by name.

quote:

Originally posted by arnie:

quote:

I wonder why the Irish accent?

I suspect they intend to drive home the message that they are signing about RyanAir. I imagine the'd get sued if they mentioned them by name.

Almost certainly. Michael O'Leary loves litigation and the many column-inches of free publicity it brings him.