For Play
Concept
I have long been interested in language and word play and the multiple meanings words can bring to conversation. I became inspired after a conversation a friend and I had in which there was confusion when one of us mentioned “mailmen”. I laughed, thinking my friend had meant “male men”. I was struck by the realization of never having thought of the confusion that could result with this word. The English language is immensely confusing, even for native speakers. There are continuous instances of miscommunication resulting from the absurdity and whimsy of the play with words. I plan on researching the varied and multiple aspects of word play; including puns, spoonerisms, rhetorical excursions, absurdisms, idioms and other figures of speech that make the English language complex and interesting. Upon completing my research on the broad topic of word play, I plan directing my focus to at least four different types word play and responding to these devices by making objects which incorporate these themes.
Audience
Lovers of language, the dictionary, and word play.
Designers/design-minded people with an interest in typography and the printed word.
Fans of puns, idioms and clever wit
Subject
Outcomes are likely to focus on short snippets of words which accumulate into a larger body of work with a driving theme. e.g. 2 objects/products incorporating double-meaning utilizing homonyms and homophones, a poster identifying idioms and colloquial phrases, an audio piece showcasing how people say “Baltimore”, a book of several typographic studies on verbal wit and whimsy
Project Goals
Share my interest in words and language with others
Bring wit and humor to everyday communication
Ignite a conversation about the meaning of language through the absurdity of language
Create a cohesive body of work with a driving theme with the ultimate goal of driving my future work
Project Influences
Authors — Lewis Carroll, James Joyce, Mark Twain
Comedians — George Carlin (seven dirty words), Groucho Marx (famous quotes),
Abbott & Costello (who’s on first)
Design — Push Pin Studios (visual word play), Yee Haw Industries (storetry), Jack Fisher (email books), Andrew Byrom (sculptural typeface designs), Stephanie DeArmond (sculptural letterforms and humorous phrases on objects), Yulia Brodyskaya (paper-cut typographic illustraions), Keetra Dean Dixon (comforters, half wishes half lies, objects of co-depedence)
Research and Source Materials
Design Humor: The Art of Graphic Wit by Steven Heller
Conundrums: Typographic Conundrums by Harry Pearce
Aspects of Verbal Humor in English by Richard Alexander
The Oxford Guide to Word Games by Tony Augarde
1.27.2011
1.26.2011
mondegreen
A mondegreen is the mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase, typically a standardized phrase such as a line in a poem or a lyric in a song, due to near homophony, in a way that gives it a new meaning.
American writer Sylvia Wright coined the term in her essay "The Death of Lady Mondegreen," published in Harper's Magazine in November 1954.
In the essay, Wright described how, as a young girl, she misheard the last line of the first stanza from the 17th-century ballad "The Bonny Earl O'Moray". She wrote:
When I was a child, my mother used to read aloud to me from Percy's Reliques, and one of my favorite poems began, as I remember:
Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands,
Oh, where hae ye been?
They hae slain the Earl O' Moray,
And Lady Mondegreen.
The actual fourth line is "And laid him on the green". Wright explained the need for a new term: "The point about what I shall hereafter call mondegreens, since no one else has thought up a word for them, is that they are better than the original."
Other examples Wright suggested are:
* Surely Good Mrs. Murphy shall follow me all the days of my life ("Surely goodness and mercy…" from Psalm 23)
* The wild, strange battle cry "Haffely, Gaffely, Gaffely, Gonward." ("Half a league, half a league,/ Half a league onward," from "The Charge of the Light Brigade")
Reverse Mondegreen
There are compositions which appear nonsensical but which can be interpreted homophonically as a rational text.
A prominent example is Mairzy Doats, a 1943 novelty song by Milton Drake, Al Hoffman and Jerry Livingston, which works the other way around.[22] The lyrics are a mondegreen and it's up to the listener to figure out what they mean.
The refrain of the song repeats nonsensical sounding lines:
Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wooden shoe
The clue to the meaning is contained in the bridge:
If the words sound queer and funny to your ear, a little bit jumbled and jivey,
Sing "Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy."
The listener can figure out that the last line of the refrain is "A kid'll eat ivy, too; wouldn't you?", but this line is sung only as a mondegreen.
lipograms
The novel is written as a lipogram and does not include words that contain the letter "e". Though self-published and little-noticed in its time, the book is a favorite of fans of constrained writing and is a sought-after rarity among some book collectors.
In Gadsby's introduction Wright says his primary difficulty was avoiding the "-ed" suffix for past-tense verbs. He focused on using verbs that do not take the -ed suffix and constructions with "do" (for instance "did walk" instead of "walked"). Scarcity of word options also drastically limited discussion involving quantity, pronouns, and many common words. Wright was unable to talk about any quantity between six and thirty. An article in the linguistic journal Word Ways said that 250 of the 500 most commonly used words in English were still available to Wright despite the omission of words with "e. Wright uses abbreviations on occasion, but only if the full form is similarly lipogrammatic, such as with "Dr.", and "P.S.". Wright also turns famous sayings into lipogrammatic form. Music can "calm a wild bosom", and Keats' "a thing of beauty is a joy forever" becomes "a charming thing is a joy always."
Project Proposal as of 12/2
Word Play For Play
Concept
I have long been interested in language and word play and the multiple meanings words
can bring to conversation. I became inspired after a conversation a friend and I had in
which there was confusion when one of us mentioned “mailmen”. I laughed, thinking my
friend had meant “male men”. I was struck by the realization of never having thought
of the confusion that could result with this word. The English language is immensely
confusing, even for native speakers. There are continuous instances of mis-communication
resulting from the absurdity and whimsy of the play with words. I plan on researching
the varied and multiple aspects of word play; including puns, spoonerisms, rhetorical
excursions, absurdisms, idioms and other figures of speech that make the English
language complex and interesting. Upon completing my research on the broad topic of
word play, I plan directing my focus on one — or no more than three — aspects of the topic to focus on and develop into my degree project.
Audience
Lovers of language, the dictionary, and word play.
Designers/design-minded people with an interest in typography and the printed word.
Fans of puns, idioms and clever wit
Subject
Outcomes are likely to focus on short snippets of words which accumulate into a larger
body of work with a driving theme. e.g. 8 objects/products incorporating double-meaning
utilizing homonyms and homophones OR a book of 26 typographic studies on verbal wit
and whimsy
Project Goals
Share my interest in words and language with others
Bring wit and humor to everyday communication
Ignite a conversation about the meaning of language through the absurdity of language
Project Influences
Authors — Lewis Carroll, James Joyce, Mark Twain
Comedians — George Carlin (seven dirty words), Groucho Marx (famous quotes),
Abbott & Costello (who’s on first)
Design — Push Pin Studios (visual word play), Yee Haw Industries (storetry), Jack
Fisher (email books), Andrew Byrom (sculptural typeface designs), Stephanie DeArmond
(sculptural letterforms and humorous phrases on objects), Yulia Brodyskaya (paper-cut
typographic illustraions), Keetra Dean Dixon (comforters, half wishes half lies, objects of
co-depedence)
Research and Source Materials
Design Humor: The Art of Graphic Wit by Steven Heller
Conundrums: Typographic Conundrums by Harry Pearce
Aspects of Verbal Humor in English by Richard Alexander
The Oxford Guide to Word Games by Tony Augarde
Concept
I have long been interested in language and word play and the multiple meanings words
can bring to conversation. I became inspired after a conversation a friend and I had in
which there was confusion when one of us mentioned “mailmen”. I laughed, thinking my
friend had meant “male men”. I was struck by the realization of never having thought
of the confusion that could result with this word. The English language is immensely
confusing, even for native speakers. There are continuous instances of mis-communication
resulting from the absurdity and whimsy of the play with words. I plan on researching
the varied and multiple aspects of word play; including puns, spoonerisms, rhetorical
excursions, absurdisms, idioms and other figures of speech that make the English
language complex and interesting. Upon completing my research on the broad topic of
word play, I plan directing my focus on one — or no more than three — aspects of the topic to focus on and develop into my degree project.
Audience
Lovers of language, the dictionary, and word play.
Designers/design-minded people with an interest in typography and the printed word.
Fans of puns, idioms and clever wit
Subject
Outcomes are likely to focus on short snippets of words which accumulate into a larger
body of work with a driving theme. e.g. 8 objects/products incorporating double-meaning
utilizing homonyms and homophones OR a book of 26 typographic studies on verbal wit
and whimsy
Project Goals
Share my interest in words and language with others
Bring wit and humor to everyday communication
Ignite a conversation about the meaning of language through the absurdity of language
Project Influences
Authors — Lewis Carroll, James Joyce, Mark Twain
Comedians — George Carlin (seven dirty words), Groucho Marx (famous quotes),
Abbott & Costello (who’s on first)
Design — Push Pin Studios (visual word play), Yee Haw Industries (storetry), Jack
Fisher (email books), Andrew Byrom (sculptural typeface designs), Stephanie DeArmond
(sculptural letterforms and humorous phrases on objects), Yulia Brodyskaya (paper-cut
typographic illustraions), Keetra Dean Dixon (comforters, half wishes half lies, objects of
co-depedence)
Research and Source Materials
Design Humor: The Art of Graphic Wit by Steven Heller
Conundrums: Typographic Conundrums by Harry Pearce
Aspects of Verbal Humor in English by Richard Alexander
The Oxford Guide to Word Games by Tony Augarde
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