If I could write a dictionary I’d want to make all the strong words so broadly defined that they would lose all practical meaning outside of a specific context. I’d like negatives like stupid and ugly to become more positive and words like brilliant and beautiful to become more negative so that they would meet somewhere in the middle. These words would then become simply descriptive without carrying any sense of judgment, like shinyor rectangular. I think then the language would become really free. People could say whatever they thought without worrying about hurting anybody’s feelings. People could really describe their own personal state of affairs clearly and without shame.
Jokes are important. For example, I’m fascinated with how three things are funny and four are not. This is why a priest, a minister and a rabbi go into a bar and leave the pastor at home. It’s the structure that makes it funny. Some people can tell jokes and some can’t. I am also really interested in how ham is a funnier lunchmeat than turkey. A ham sandwich is special in a way that no other sandwich is. Note that Mama Cass is said to have died choking on a ham sandwich, and not some other kind. That story wouldn’t have the staying power it does if the sandwich were different. There is a certain kind of pathos to ham. Pathos is important. Ham is somehow a little abject when corned beef is not. Like ham has no business killing anybody so when it does, it’s extra notable.
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