to "fashion"; "in the weeds"

[Laurence Horn]

On May 6, 2012, at 5:32 PM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:

> Who is considered a "good genius"??
> DanG
> 

They're not called that, just geniuses, but I was thinking of Einstein as the epitome of the category.  Sometimes identified as the father of the atomic bomb--not necessarily a good thing, and not necessarily true--but then there's the wild hair and the tongue hanging out, so he's gotta be good.  And if you don't think he was a genius, I've got a song (well, Henry Jankiewicz got a song) that says you're wrong:

Einstein the Genius (Theory of Relativity)

Einstein was a genius, not like you and me.
He wrote two equations every day.
On Mondays he wrote three.
On Mondays, he wrote three.

Chorus:
Albert, dance around.
Albert, be profound.
Albert let your hair stick out, 
Your socks hang down.

A man stared through a telescope until his eyes were red.
He stared in outer space and saw
The back of his own head.
The backside, of his head.

A Man got in a spaceship and flew a hundered miles.
Busted through the speed of light.
He came back a child.
He came back a child.

I had a frame of reference.
I laid it on the fence.
Along came relativity.
I haven't seen the damn thing since.
Seen the damn thing since.
A wave and a particle were walking side by side.
One said to the other,
"Which one of us am I?"
"Which one, of us am I?"

Einstein had a fiddle.  He loved to {shout,dance} and sing.
Man if that ain't genius,
That ain't anything.
That ain't anything.

Here's a YouTube rendition by the Twin Pair o'Docs, who shouldn't give up their day jobs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5NXYFtXwBY
or a less bad version by Faux Renwah:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksz6sjxTQ7o&feature=related
In our own day, I think Stephen Hawking is the resident genius, although his hair isn't wild and he doesn't shout (or dance, although that's independently motivated) and sing, as far as I know.  He has had someunfortunate relationships with women, though, and that has to count for something.  
LH
> 
> On Sun, May 6, 2012 at 4:07 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: to "fashion"; "in the weeds"
>> 
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> On Sun, May 6, 2012 at 10:48 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
>> wrote:
>>> evidently I'm not alone.
>> 
>> Evidently. I cut my semantic teeth on such real and imaginary,
>> redundantly-evil masterminds as Hitler, Tojo, Fu-Manchu, The Scorpion,
>> Mr. Mind, Ivan Shark, Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, etc.
>> 
>> Apparently, geniuses can be either good or evil, but not masterminds.
>> 
>> --
>> -Wilson
>> -----
>> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
>> to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>> -Mark Twain
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org