Scott Lloyd Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 (edited) So my missionary son in Sweden writes this week that he and his companion visited a less-active couple in the ward whom they have befriended. The husband showed them a couple of hilarious YouTube videos. It would have been ungracious for them to decline to see them. The first is a parody of the Adele song "Hello" that features a missionary companionship engaged in door-to-door contacting. The second does not have a Mormon connection, but I'll include it here anyway as a commentary on my own reputation on this board as being somewhat of an English-language Nazi. It's a parody by Weird Al Yankovic called "Word Crimes." My boy wrote parenthetically, "which I'm sure Dad will get a kick out of." He knows me better than I thought he did. Here's the link to the Adele song parody: And here's the Weird Al video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gv0H-vPoDc Edited January 18, 2017 by Scott Lloyd 3 Link to comment
Scott Lloyd Posted January 17, 2017 Author Share Posted January 17, 2017 It seems uncanny but if I didn't know better, I would have thought Weird Al had me in mind when he did the "Word Crimes" song. It mentions many of my pet peeves: using quotation marks for emphasis (you use them to quote someone or something. Period. Not to emphasize a word or phrase. You have italics, boldface and underscoring for that); "I could care less" when you mean you couldn't care less; "it's" used as a possessive instead of a contraction; and improper use of pronouns ("myself" is a reflexive pronoun and should never be used in place of "I" or "me"). However, Al did leave out one of my biggest peeves: using "beg the question" improperly, to mean "raise the question" or "prompt the question." 4 Link to comment
hope_for_things Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 16 minutes ago, Scott Lloyd said: It seems uncanny but if I didn't know better, I would have thought Weird Al had me in mind when he did the "Word Crimes" song. It mentions many of my pet peeves: using quotation marks for emphasis (you use them to quote someone or something. Period. Not to emphasize a word or phrase. You have italics, boldface and underscoring for that); "I could care less" when you mean you couldn't care less; "it's" used as a possessive instead of a contraction; and improper use of pronouns ("myself" is a reflexive pronoun and should never be used in place of "I" or "me"). However, Al did leave out one of my biggest peeves: using "beg the question" improperly, to mean "raise the question" or "prompt the question." I'm not very good at proper word usage myself, but I can understand the impulse and frustration when people misuse words and my wife is quite the word Nazi at times. :-) Love her for it! I found this podcast on the evolution of words quite interesting and there is a book that the author wrote on the subject as well. You might enjoy checking it out. http://radiowest.kuer.org/post/words-move Link to comment
Scott Lloyd Posted January 17, 2017 Author Share Posted January 17, 2017 11 minutes ago, hope_for_things said: I'm not very good at proper word usage myself, but I can understand the impulse and frustration when people misuse words and my wife is quite the word Nazi at times. :-) Love her for it! I found this podcast on the evolution of words quite interesting and there is a book that the author wrote on the subject as well. You might enjoy checking it out. http://radiowest.kuer.org/post/words-move Thanks for the recommendation. I'll take a listen. Having just read the program description, though, I'll say that it's axiomatic that language is always evolving and changing but that doesn't necessarily mean each and every change should be embraced or even tolerated. Some changes tend to corrupt or confuse the language. If there were no standards whatever, the language would cease to be useful as a means for communication Link to comment
hope_for_things Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 56 minutes ago, Scott Lloyd said: Thanks for the recommendation. I'll take a listen. Having just read the program description, though, I'll say that it's axiomatic that language is always evolving and changing but that doesn't necessarily mean each and every change should be embraced or even tolerated. Some changes tend to corrupt or confuse the language. If there were no standards whatever, the language would cease to be useful as a means for communication The author talks about some current issues with words like "literally" and how those definitions are changing. He does talk about the importance of structure too, but also how those structures change with time. I think you'll like it, he gives some voice to those who get frustrated with the changes happening as well. Link to comment
Buckeye Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 2 hours ago, Scott Lloyd said: It seems uncanny but if I didn't know better, I would have thought Weird Al had me in mind when he did the "Word Crimes" song. It mentions many of my pet peeves: using quotation marks for emphasis (you use them to quote someone or something. Period. Not to emphasize a word or phrase. You have italics, boldface and underscoring for that); "I could care less" when you mean you couldn't care less; "it's" used as a possessive instead of a contraction; and improper use of pronouns ("myself" is a reflexive pronoun and should never be used in place of "I" or "me"). However, Al did leave out one of my biggest peeves: using "beg the question" improperly, to mean "raise the question" or "prompt the question." "Word Crimes" is one of Weird Al's best. And that's saying something. My kids love it. They also love the sports team song, but they can only play it when mom is away from home. Link to comment
Scott Lloyd Posted January 17, 2017 Author Share Posted January 17, 2017 6 minutes ago, Buckeye said: "Word Crimes" is one of Weird Al's best. And that's saying something. My kids love it. They also love the sports team song, but they can only play it when mom is away from home. "Word Crimes" is terrific, but I'm a Weird Al listener from way back, and I'm not sure it's better than some of the classics like "Eat It" (parody of Michael Jackson's "Beat It") and "Another One Rides the Bus" (Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust"). Link to comment
Scott Lloyd Posted January 17, 2017 Author Share Posted January 17, 2017 20 minutes ago, Calm said: White and Nerdy Gee, thanks a lot! Oh, you're referring to a Weird Al song. My bad. Link to comment
Buckeye Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 30 minutes ago, Scott Lloyd said: "Word Crimes" is terrific, but I'm a Weird Al listener from way back, and I'm not sure it's better than some of the classics like "Eat It" (parody of Michael Jackson's "Beat It") and "Another One Rides the Bus" (Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust"). IMO, his recent stuff is much more polished and witty than the early stuff. That's not surprising. As you do parody for decades, you get better. For my money, EBay is the best of all time. But I like the early stuff too. 1 Link to comment
Calm Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 5 minutes ago, Scott Lloyd said: Gee, thanks a lot! Oh, you're referring to a Weird Al song. My bad. Works both ways. Link to comment
Scott Lloyd Posted January 17, 2017 Author Share Posted January 17, 2017 23 minutes ago, Buckeye said: IMO, his recent stuff is much more polished and witty than the early stuff. That's not surprising. As you do parody for decades, you get better. For my money, EBay is the best of all time. But I like the early stuff too. Agreed on the getting better with time. Also, your financial base increases so you can invest more in the productions. Link to comment
Thinking Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 Both videos done good. 2 Link to comment
california boy Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 My boyfriend loved the Adel song. We watched the TV interview as well. This video has received 1.2 million hits in just a week. Thanks for posting it Scott. Link to comment
JLHPROF Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 5 hours ago, Calm said: White and Nerdy Amish Paradise is the very pinnacle of all that is Weird Al. Just my opinion. 1 Link to comment
Scott Lloyd Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 14 minutes ago, JLHPROF said: Amish Paradise is the very pinnacle of all that is Weird Al. Just my opinion. Makes me wonder what it would look like if Al trained his sights on Mormonism. I don't think he's mean-spirited. I saw a profile of him a while back in which he said that before he does a parody, he always seeks permission from the artist whose song he is making a parody of. 1 Link to comment
JLHPROF Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 6 minutes ago, Scott Lloyd said: Makes me wonder what it would look like if Al trained his sights on Mormonism. I don't think he's mean-spirited. I saw a profile of him a while back in which he said that before he does a parody, he always seeks permission from the artist whose song he is making a parody of. Hate to say it, but it would almost unavoidably have a polygamy focus. Somehow I doubt he'd find much else to joke about. Maybe the Word of Wisdom. Link to comment
Derl Sanderson Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 4 hours ago, Scott Lloyd said: Agreed on the getting better with time. Also, your financial base increases so you can invest more in the productions. Weird Al is a genius. (Mission Statement after Suite: Judy Blue Eyes) 1 Link to comment
canard78 Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 13 hours ago, Scott Lloyd said: It seems uncanny but if I didn't know better, I would have thought Weird Al had me in mind when he did the "Word Crimes" song. It mentions many of my pet peeves: using quotation marks for emphasis (you use them to quote someone or something. Period. Not to emphasize a word or phrase. You have italics, boldface and underscoring for that); "I could care less" when you mean you couldn't care less; "it's" used as a possessive instead of a contraction; and improper use of pronouns ("myself" is a reflexive pronoun and should never be used in place of "I" or "me"). However, Al did leave out one of my biggest peeves: using "beg the question" improperly, to mean "raise the question" or "prompt the question." Seconded Link to comment
Duncan Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 (edited) if you want funny and super well done, some of our missionaries' that served here in my ward did this video a few years, it got a ton of air time! These two are BRILLIANT and did super well on their missions!!!!!!! Edited January 18, 2017 by Duncan 1 Link to comment
Calm Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 (edited) 5 hours ago, JLHPROF said: Hate to say it, but it would almost unavoidably have a polygamy focus. Somehow I doubt he'd find much else to joke about. Maybe the Word of Wisdom. Being gods with planets, gay issues, typically Republicans, modesty, pg movies, BYU, 1950 lifestyles, garments, temples, thinking we are Israelites... The list is kind of endless imo. Edited January 18, 2017 by Calm Link to comment
Rain Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 (edited) 13 hours ago, california boy said: My boyfriend loved the Adel song. We watched the TV interview as well. This video has received 1.2 million hits in just a week. Thanks for posting it Scott. There was an interview about the video? The video has been out for quite awhile so it surprised me it would get that many hits this last week when I first read your post, but if I am reading you right, now, that there was an interview about the video recently it makes sense. Edited January 18, 2017 by Rain Link to comment
california boy Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 1 hour ago, Rain said: There was an interview about the video? The video has been out for quite awhile so it surprised me it would get that many hits this last week when I first read your post, but if I am reading you right, now, that there was an interview about the video recently it makes sense. We googled it to find out a bit more about the singer. The interview was with a local SLC tv station and was probably old as well if the video has been out for a while. 1 Link to comment
Okrahomer Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 10 hours ago, Duncan said: if you want funny and super well done, some of our missionaries' that served here in my ward did this video a few years, it got a ton of air time! These two are BRILLIANT and did super well on their missions!!!!!!! Nice! Love the snow scenes and you can't beat "Stoppin' at the stop lights, goin' at the go lights"...and they even managed to get a kitty scene in there! 1 Link to comment
Duncan Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Just now, Okrahomer said: Nice! Love the snow scenes and you can't beat "Stoppin' at the stop lights, goin' at the go lights"...and they even managed to get a kitty scene in there! funnily enough that's a much quoted line!!!!! Link to comment
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