Saturday, June 30, 2007Hyperbolic steroids
MyStickies is like bookmarks on steroids.
RAWR said the Post-it®. And that must be the funniest instance of steroid use I've read in quite a while. The last time was when the back blurb of The Da Vinci Code claimed for Dan Brown the title of "Umberto Eco on steroids". (Please. Do NOT get me started on this.)
A quick Google (you know, sumfin like that überhigh-tech tool Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu used with much baiting of breath to finally wrap up that piece of drivel *gasp-choke*) turned up:
Like "über-" and "franken-", adding "on steroids" implies that something is more of whatever it is, specifically in terms of performance. As in athletics, where the usage originated. In an odd reversal of meaning, however, steroid use seems to have generally positive connotations in almost all other contexts (e.g., "Flickr on steroids").
"Uber-" (as in überused), strictly defined, means above (as in supra, as in super). "Franken-", on the other hand, implies something unnatural, like having a bolt sticking out of your forehead. The usage that comes to mind is "frankenrice" (i.e., genetically modified rice). Incidentally--or maybe in a collective unconscious way--these two are Germanic in origin. I wonder how many people who über all over the place have even heard of Nietzsche.
Obviously, these degree modifiers are not interchangeable. You can be an "Umberto Eco on steroids" but you can't be an über-Umberto or a frankenEco. At least, not if you want to ride on somebody else's reputation properly.
I don't use any of them myself (the hyperbole being too bathetic) save for bottom-of-the-barrel scraping ironic effect. My favorite degree modifier, but sparingly applied, is "weapons-grade". As in: weapons-grade love. Or weapons-grade staplers.
RAWR said the Post-it®. And that must be the funniest instance of steroid use I've read in quite a while. The last time was when the back blurb of The Da Vinci Code claimed for Dan Brown the title of "Umberto Eco on steroids". (Please. Do NOT get me started on this.)
A quick Google (you know, sumfin like that überhigh-tech tool Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu used with much baiting of breath to finally wrap up that piece of drivel *gasp-choke*) turned up:
- Guantanamo on steroids = Abu Ghraib
- PR on steroids (makes me think of teeth whitener abuse)
- whiteboard on steroids (just like stickies on steroids above; now, staplers on steroids would be something)
- badminton at night, on steroids (Badminton? At night? This is so wrong. Geriatric-sounding, too.)
- Freedom on Steroids (a review of a book on Bush's foreign police-y)
- web counter on steroids (it'll pad your hits, I guess)
- PDA on steroids (like crazed weasels)
- "your static website on steroids, thanks to WordPress" (static...on php...sad)
- Chihuahuas on steroids wearing stilettos (from an article about media bookers)
Like "über-" and "franken-", adding "on steroids" implies that something is more of whatever it is, specifically in terms of performance. As in athletics, where the usage originated. In an odd reversal of meaning, however, steroid use seems to have generally positive connotations in almost all other contexts (e.g., "Flickr on steroids").
"Uber-" (as in überused), strictly defined, means above (as in supra, as in super). "Franken-", on the other hand, implies something unnatural, like having a bolt sticking out of your forehead. The usage that comes to mind is "frankenrice" (i.e., genetically modified rice). Incidentally--or maybe in a collective unconscious way--these two are Germanic in origin. I wonder how many people who über all over the place have even heard of Nietzsche.
Obviously, these degree modifiers are not interchangeable. You can be an "Umberto Eco on steroids" but you can't be an über-Umberto or a frankenEco. At least, not if you want to ride on somebody else's reputation properly.
I don't use any of them myself (the hyperbole being too bathetic) save for bottom-of-the-barrel scraping ironic effect. My favorite degree modifier, but sparingly applied, is "weapons-grade". As in: weapons-grade love. Or weapons-grade staplers.
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