[Ads-l] Intergalactic Freak Show

Fri Sep 28 20:15:12 UTC 2018

Peter Reitan wrote:
> Senator Kennedy (R - LA) called the Senate Judiciary Committee's
> Kavanaugh confirmation hearing as an "Intergalactic Freak Show."
>
> TV commentators gave him credit for being someone who really
> knows how to turn a phrase, but it's possible he borrowed it from
> elsewhere.

I've heard the phrase "intergalactic freak show" in previous years.
Here are a few partial matches and a full match circa 1995.

In 1968 a book reviewer presented a brief discussion of the science
fiction novel "Earthblood" and referred to a "traveling galactic freak
show":

Date: April 14, 1968
Newspaper: The Salt Lake Tribune
Newspaper Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
Article: Paperback Roundup: Ghost Ships, Murder, And Haunted Caves
Author: Joseph Haas (Chicago Daily News Writer)
Quote Page W17

[Begin excerpt]
"Earthblood," by Keith Laumer and Rosel George Brown (Berkley, 75
cents). It's 13,000 A.D. and Roan, a pure-strain human kidnapped as a
boy for a traveling galactic freak show, roisters through space after
he is freed by an astropirate.
[End excerpt]

In 1976 critic Rex Reed discussed the movie "The Man Who Fell to
Earth" and described musician/actor David Bowie as "an intergalactic
freak":

Date: June 4, 1976
Newspaper: Daily News
Newspaper Location: New York, New York
Article: David Bowie's First Falls to Earth
Author: Rex Reed
Quote Page 64

[Begin excerpt]
Physically, he's the most perfect specimen to play an intergalactic
freak since he already looks like one.
[End excerpt]

In 1996 the term "Intergalactic Freak" was employed to refer to a user
of the website for "Another Planet Records":

Date: March 7, 1996
Newspaper: The Burlington Free Press
Newspaper Location: Burlington, Vermont
Section: Weekend
Column: Scene & Heard
Article: Local Music: My (click!) excellent Internet (click!) adventures
Author: Steve Lemcke
Quote Page 5

[Begin excerpt]
I e-mailed Dave at Another Planet Records. I signed up to become an
Intergalactic Freak. (Not to worry -- it's a music page, although
Wilma, the host, does sound exotic and exciting.)
[End excerpt]

Comedian Dennis Miller employed "intergalactic freak show" to describe
the media coverage of the O.J. Simpson trial in an essay apparently
written in 1995.

Year: 1996 (Original publication date)
Book: Rants
Author: Dennis Miller
Chapter: The O.J. Trial (6/30/95)
Database; Google Books Preview
Quote Page 136

[Begin excerpt]
And yet, here's the really sad part—Instead of being repulsed by all
this, every day, millions of us religiously tune in to rubberneck this
intergalactic freak show.

The media claim that they're just doing their job, feeding the news
appetite of the American people. I guess it's really not their fault
that we happen to be bulimic.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Fri, Sep 28, 2018 at 1:50 PM Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Senator Kennedy (R - LA) called the Senate Judiciary Committee's Kavanaugh confirmation hearing as an "Intergalactic Freak Show."
>
> TV commentators gave him credit for being someone who really knows how to turn a phrase, but it's possible he borrowed it from elsewhere.
>
> On December 18, 2017, World Weaver Press announced the upcoming publication of Jennifer Lee Rossman's new book, "Jack Stark's Intergalactic Freak Show."
> https://www.worldweaverpress.com/blog/our-two-newest-acquisitions
>
> Publication date is currently set for December 14, 2018, so it is unlikely he has read her book.
> https://www.amazon.com/Jetstarks-Intergalactic-Freakshow-Jennifer-Rossman-ebook/dp/B07H52T2FV/
>
> But the expression is even older.
>
> The them for Key West's annual Fantasy Fest in 2015 was, "All Hallow's Intergalactic Freak Show."  The theme was announced in print at the close of its 2014 fest, "Animeted Dreams and Adventures" (not a misspelling, but a reference to Japanese "Anime").
>
> Florida Today (Cocoa, Florida), October 27, 2014, page A10.
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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