narrative; graphic

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Sun Feb 10 23:42:36 UTC 2013 

On Feb 10, 2013, at 6:11 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> Tru-TV posts a caption under coverage of court testimony:
>
> "Jodi Arias gives details of graphic, sin-filled life."
>
> JL

Maybe it was supposed to be "graphic details of sin-filled life", with postposing of "graphic"

LH
>
> On Thu, Sep 22, 2011 at 9:06 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: narrative; graphic
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi tells CNN that there needs to be "a
>> Palestinian narrative."
>>
>> Ashrawi holds a doctorate in Medieval and Comparative Literature from the
>> University of Virginia.
>>
>> Clearly, it is cool for the highly educated to say "narrative."
>>
>> JL
>>
>> On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 11:27 AM, Jonathan Lighter
>> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>> -----------------------
>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>>> Subject:      Re: narrative; graphic
>>>
>>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> Sharif El-Gamal, developer of the Park51 Islamic Center (or "Ground-Zero
>>> Mosque" if you're into melodrama) appeared on CNN this morning saying
>> that
>>> behind his decision to build the Center was a desire to "reclaim our
>>> narrative" from "criminals and murderers" who were distorting Islam.
>>>
>>> "Narrative" here seems to mean something like "tradition and publicly
>>> recognized identity," but it's pretty murky to me.
>>>
>>> Google reveals a few thousand "reclaim the narratives," usually in the
>>> sens=
>>> e
>>> of "regain control of the debate"  Ex.:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> http://desertbeacon.wordpress.com/2011/04/13/reclaim-the-narrative-social-s=
>>> ecurity-is-not-going-broke/
>>>
>>> "Reclaim the narrative: Social Security Is NOT Going Broke! The radical
>>> right has made some significant gains in setting the narrative for
>>> discussing =93entitlement=94 programs."
>>> Not quite the same sense of "narrative" to be "reclaimed" as El-Gamal's.
>>> Watch this space.
>>>
>>> JL
>>>
>>> On Sat, Sep 17, 2011 at 3:36 PM, Jonathan Lighter <
>> wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
>>>> w=
>>> rote:
>>>
>>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>> -----------------------
>>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>>>> Subject:      Re: narrative; graphic
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
>>> ------
>>>>
>>>> I
>>>>
>>>> An eyewitness to the crash of a WWII fighter plane into the stands at
>> the
>>>> Reno Air Races tells CNN that the sight was terrible. In fact, "It was
>>>> graphic."
>>>>
>>>> II
>>>>
>>>> In reporting the incident, a CNN correspondent explains that "a
>> narrative
>>>> is
>>>> emerging that the pilot" may have tried to bank the plane away from the
>>>> stands.  The semantic point here is that, right now, no one knows if
>>> that=
>>> 's
>>>> true or not, and they may never know. It's just a "narrative."
>>>>
>>>> Of course, the reporter may simply have been thinking of "story," but a
>>>> "news story" is supposedly factual, and an "unfounded rumor" not worth
>>>> reporting in this case.
>>>>
>>>> JL
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, Aug 4, 2011 at 9:34 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com>
>>> wrote=
>>> :
>>>>
>>>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>>> -----------------------
>>>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>>> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
>>>>> Subject:      Re: narrative; graphic
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
>>> ------
>>>>>
>>>>> I think you are overstating the cynicism in its current usage. I was
>>>>> watching TV yesterday, and heard it used on the program "Necessary
>>>>> Roughness" to mean something close to 'my story', as something one
>>>>> will tell others about an incident.
>>>>>
>>>>> DanG
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Thu, Aug 4, 2011 at 10:33 AM, Jonathan Lighter
>>>>> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>>> -----------------------
>>>>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>>>> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>>>>>> Subject:      Re: narrative; graphic
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
>>> ------
>>>>>>
>>>>>> And nobody says, "That's my narrative, and I'm sticking to it!"
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Yet. But it wouldn't be funny if they did, because it would be an
>>>> obvious
>>>>>> admission of craft, unlike the potentially ambiguous "story."  Any
>>>> guilty
>>>>>> moron might say, "That's my story...," but only an
>>>>>> unapologetic political operator with an advanced degree would say,
>>>>> "That's
>>>>>> my narrative...."
>>>>>>
>>>>>> JL
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Thu, Aug 4, 2011 at 10:21 AM, Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>>>>> -----------------------
>>>>>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>>>>> Poster:       Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
>>>>>>> Subject:      Re: narrative; graphic
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
>>> ------
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> As when PR specialists or damage-control experts or criminal
>> lawyers
>>>> and
>>>>>>> their clients meet to "decide on a narrative."
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> --Charlie
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> ________________________________________
>>>>>>> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf
>>> of
>>>>>>> Jonathan Lighter [wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM]
>>>>>>> Sent: Thursday, August 04, 2011 10:02 AM
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Garson, my feeling is that that's a transitional case. In other
>>> word=
>>> s,
>>>>> in
>>>>>>> 1994 no one would have noticed it. That "great narrative" I take
>> to
>>>> mean
>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>> "grand story," even if biased.  And it refers chiefly to the past.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> In current usage, "their narrative" or "the narrative" usually
>>> refer=
>>> s
>>>> to
>>>>>>> some cynical, partisan version of events, including events current
>>> a=
>>> nd
>>>>>>> hoped-for. It's more like, "the half-truths they're feeding the
>>>>> suckers."
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> JL
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Wed, Aug 3, 2011 at 6:59 PM, Garson O'Toole <
>>>>> adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com
>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>>>>>> -----------------------
>>>>>>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>>>>>> Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
>>>>>>>> Subject:      Re: narrative; graphic
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
>>> ------
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Jonathan Lighter wrote
>>>>>>>>> Tea Party theorist Dana Loesch on CNN today:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> "There are also three credit agencies that have already
>>> downgrad=
>>> ed
>>>>> our
>>>>>>>>> credit rating. But you never hear about it because it's not
>> part
>>>> of
>>>>> the
>>>>>>>>> narrative. [The downgrades were] based on [Obama's] big
>>> spending=
>>> ."
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Here is a similar example, in my opinion, that uses the phrase
>>> "no=
>>> t
>>>>>>>> part of the great narrative" in 1994.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> New York Times
>>>>>>>> CHILDREN'S BOOKS; The New History: Showing Children the Dark
>> Side
>>>>>>>> By Martha Saxton
>>>>>>>> Published: November 13, 1994
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> http://goo.gl/4PahY
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>> http://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/13/books/children-s-books-the-new-history-=
>>> showing-children-the-dark-side.html
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> As long as women and blacks, American Indians, Asian-Americans
>> and
>>>>>>>> others were not part of history, then what white men did to them
>>> w=
>>> as
>>>>>>>> not part of the great narrative of the nation. Now that all of
>> our
>>>>>>>> pasts figure in our history, however, tragedy is never too
>> distant
>>>> and
>>>>>>>> celebration must share its place with reconciliation in the
>>> storie=
>>> s
>>>> we
>>>>>>>> teach.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle
>> the
>>>>> truth."
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>>>>> truth."
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>>> truth=
>>> ."
>>>>
>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --=20
>>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>> truth."
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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