stupid = 'very pleasing; marvelous'

[Jonathan Lighter]

> It seems to be a specialized form of wordplay congratulating and
criticizing Motorola on the advertising campaign which combines a
smartwatch and an app that is widely viewed as dumb.

So is it smart or is it stupid? Obviously, who cares?

This is more post-structural than I can handle.

JL






On Thu, Aug 28, 2014 at 10:38 AM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: stupid = 'very pleasing; marvelous'
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The label "stupidest" has been applied to the mobile app "Yo" using
> the conventional pejorative sense of "stupidest". Below is an example:
>
> Title: The stupidest $1 million app ever has already been hacked
> Author: Brad Reed
> Timestamp: Jun 20, 2014 at 8:30 PM
>
> https://bgr.com/2014/06/20/yo-app-for-ios-android-hacked/
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Who would have thought that the stupidest $1 million app in world
> history would have shoddy security? Yo, the inexplicably dumb new
> messaging app that was created in just eight hours and has raised $1
> million in funding, has already been hacked by college students at
> Georgia Tech.
> [End excerpt]
>
> The statement: "this promotion is just as awesomely stupid as you
> think it is" might be laudatory or critical. It seems to be a
> specialized form of wordplay congratulating and criticizing Motorola
> on the advertising campaign which combines a smartwatch and an app
> that is widely viewed as dumb.
>
> Garson
>
>
> On Thu, Aug 28, 2014 at 10:07 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:      stupid = 'very pleasing; marvelous'
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > This has been around for some years, but perhaps never moreblatantly as
> in
> > this ad:
> >
> > "It=E2=80=99s an unlikely pairing: The world=E2=80=99s smartest looking
> sma=
> > rtwatch and the
> > world=E2=80=99s stupidest mobile app. And yet they have indeed teamed
> up, b=
> > ecause
> > mobile app Yo has just announced that 'Motorola is going to use the Yo
> > platform to release their long awaited Moto 360 smart watch.' And yes,
> this
> > promotion is just as awesomely stupid as you think it is."
> >
> > For some of, of course, the sense is equivocal.
> >
> > But only for some.
> >
> > JL
> > --=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
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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."

------------------------------------------------------------
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