Dang: A Consideration
I've been buried in PHP self-education for a little while to the expense of most other things, but I did drag myself away from the computers long enough this weekend to attend Williams Commencement 2007, which was absolutely worth it to see so many of my '07 friends all in one place once again. I ripped myself away from there to get back to NH to catch a train back to Boston, and I probably should have stayed a little longer - as it was, I left in the thick of things while most people were still at the Paresky Lawn reception, with all the graduates' conflicted emotions filtering through to my own and dredging them back up from a year ago. But it was much better for me to be there too short a time than not at all.
Other than that, there are some silly things that I need to bring up:
- Why isn't there a (non-hypermetro) analogue of tank-tops for men that is more classy than a beater. This came to me when I saw a picture in the previous issue of Rolling Stone of an all-male band, I forget who, who were all indeed wearing colorful tank-tops, and therefore looked rather more effete than I would want to, and yet quite comfortable. If this were an accepted fashion, it would make the heat of summer often much more bearable.
- The various d-exclamations (damn, dang, darn, durn) sort of have different cultural niches, to my mind.
Other than that, there are some silly things that I need to bring up:
- Why isn't there a (non-hypermetro) analogue of tank-tops for men that is more classy than a beater. This came to me when I saw a picture in the previous issue of Rolling Stone of an all-male band, I forget who, who were all indeed wearing colorful tank-tops, and therefore looked rather more effete than I would want to, and yet quite comfortable. If this were an accepted fashion, it would make the heat of summer often much more bearable.
- The various d-exclamations (damn, dang, darn, durn) sort of have different cultural niches, to my mind.
- Darn tends to sound nerdy since it's the primary softening of damn. "Why isn't this darn function returning an array when I want it to? Darnitall!"
- Dang has a more bumpkiney quality, which I find choice. "I reckon we're gonna have a dang bumper crop a' taters this year, Clem!" Note: durn in fact occupies a similar niche, clearly.
- Damn is most at home in a more urban setting, I think. "Daaaaamn son, that is some FINE couscous!"