Subject: Re: [linux-audio-user] [OT - Apostrophe]
From: RickTaylor_AT_speakeasy.net
Date: Wed Jun 30 2004 - 10:03:26 EEST
On 29-Jun-2004 luis jure wrote:
} Jos Laake <jos_AT_radiks.net> escribió:
} > I believe it's a reference from the Frank Zappa song "Apostrophe", no?
} > From the album of the same name.
} >
} > I belive the line goes:
} > "The crux of the biscuit is the Apostrophe." - FZ
}
} right. "it should be easy to see..."
} > What it means? I have no idea. Random silliness from the Master
} > is my guess. ;-)
}
} i don't see it as random. i'm not a native speaker of english, but i think i
} can follow how zappa developed a funny variant of the idioms that use the
} word"crux" (meaning of course "decisive point", and not "cross"), mainly
} "the crux of the matter", but also "the crux of the problem/conflict", "the
} crux of the discussion/debate", etc.
}
} it's very probable that zappa himself invented the expression (can anyone
} trace it to a predating source?), perhaps melding "crux of the matter" and
} "crust of the biscuit".
}
} it appeared first in the song "stink foot", which was included in the album
} "apostrophe" from 1974. zappa also used the expression in conversation, i
} remember reading interviews where he used this peculiar idiom.
I think you've got to look at that one in context... It is the dog explaining
"conceptual continuity" after all. Maybe it means that the "important bits" of
his biscuit are missing and therefore must be filled in by the imagination or
out of habit like we use an apostrophe to fill in the missing bits of words or
contractions. Whether the actual important bits of the biscuit are the ends or
perhaps the dog has begun his biscuit fest by biting the biscuit middle is
something, I think, that Frank has left up to the listener to determine... the
actual import of the statement being that the bits are missing thus breaking
the biscuit continuity and that we've filled things in with one of the above
mentioned devices. ...Like the apostrophe.
I'm thinking this represents Franks tribute to mans imagination. ...The idea
that we, as humans, are capable of imagining things like talking dogs ...maybe
it's a contrast with the stark reality of stinky feet... which Frank may use
to illustrate the "street" or the baser human elements.
So... Frank basically is contrasting the sublime with the human here...
telling us that what's important lies in the mind and not in the physical.
It's just so typically Frank.
} excuse the OT, but the artists and groups usually mentioned on this list are
} completely unknown to me, for once i wanted to talk a musician i _do_ know.
} er... not very probable an OT about duke ellington or thelonious monk, is
You've heard the Yellow Orchestra stuff?
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E-Mail: RickTaylor_AT_Speakeasy.Net
Date: 30-Jun-2004
Time: 01:37:24
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