Tuesday, June 24, 2008

George Carlin

The man who ensured I'd never hear "hot water heater" or "jumbo shrimp" with quite the same degree of acceptance left us recently and unexpectedly.

I often make snarky comments about misuse of language (while abusin' it my own self) and the person who first made me aware of language as the software our brains are running -- and why that mattered! -- was George Carlin. One of his great gifts was an original ear, the ability to hear a well-worn phrase or familiar term as though he was hearing it for the very first time and an even greater gift was his ability to then share that perception with an audience. I'm going to miss him.

In a world of fools and sheep, George Carlin was neither.

3 comments:

Turk Turon said...

I can remember bits from his routines thirty years ago.

"Sometimes they'll try to fool you and say 'Shoot!' You can't fool me, man; 'shoot' is 'shit' with two 'O's."

I'm grateful we have his recordings. I played "AM and FM" until I wore it out!

red said...

"You may now get on the plane."

"Screw you, let Evel Kenevel ride ON the plane, I'm getting in the plane!"


If there is an afterlife, it's a much funnier place now.

Rob K said...

I think I was still in high school when I went to see him at the Murat with my brother and a friend. That had to be almost 20 years ago.

Hilarious because it's true.