Friday, February 10, 2006

Six Degrees of Mac

Six Degrees of Procrastination: Mac.
Macintosh : McIntosh apple : cultivar : portmanteau : Humpty Dumpty : Humpty Dumptyism

Who knew Humpty Dumpty was so procrastinatory? Turns out the term "Humpty Dumptyism" means "insist[ing] on a meaning of a word that is not generally accepted by others." I've never heard of this before -- could it be a case of Humpty Dumptyism itself? Hmmm...

Here's why it's called Humpty Dumptyism (From Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass):
'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.'

'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many different things.'

'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master—that's all.'
No one seems to know where Humpty himself came from. Among the theories:

-"Humpty dumpty" was 17th-Century slang for a short, clumsy person

-"Humpty Dumpty referred to King Richard III of England, the hunchbacked monarch ... During the battle of Bosworth Field, he fell off of his steed and was said to have been "hacked into pieces"

-"Humpty Dumpty may also refer to a Roman war machine called a Testudo used to cross moats and climb over castle walls. Humpty Dumpty refers to the turtle-like look of the machine and the noise of the wheels."

Still not totally distracted from your work? Try this: "A phonetic variation ... of the [Humpty Dumpty] rhyme is also used in ...systems analysis, knowledge management, and ... software development to illustrate the complexity of human communications."

That should put paid to your productivity for the day. So you can say your productivity "had a great fall!" HAW!!!!!! I kill myself.



Comments:
Hey, I'm doing exactly what you're doing (only with slightly less work).
 
Er. I figure I should drop my URL so I don't just look like some guy. Here.
 
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