Jeff RossI just looked up the origin of “gangly”: it’s derived from “gangling”, which is an old word meaning “lanky”. Both “gang” and “gangling” have origins in old words that meant “go”. “Gang” came first, as it was a group of people who would go together, and “gangling” came from “gangrel”, which meant “a wandering beggar” [or “a beggar who goes about”]. Beggars that are able to travel from place to place tend to be tall, thin, and awkward, which is how “gangly” got its meaning.
Perhaps this is why “gangster” is sometimes used as an adjective for gangs.
Jeff RossI’m pretty sure “quite” can either mean “utterly” or “somewhat”, depending on context. Both definitions appear if you google the word.
Jeff RossWhen I read “gangly”, I immediately thought of the Buttercream Gang.
According to Merriam-Webster, “gangly” means: tall, thin, and awkward.
Jeff RossI’m pretty sure that “pretty” is a uniquely English synonym for “quite”.
Jeff RossAgain
Jeff RossUp
(I thought for sure that this word would be what Franklin was going to write, but I was mistaken.)
Jeff RossIt really was.
Jeff RossBob und Larry laden alle ein
Jeff RossEwe
Jeff RossGang
(A couple of days ago I finally watched SGK’s Bargain Bin episode of “Buttercream Gang”, where the gang gave assistance and tried to help an elderly lady who should have had LifeAlert, as she had a tendency to fall when everyone was away, causing the children to run to her aid throughout the film.)
Jeff RossBreaking: Episode 190 of the Inner Tube has an unexpectedly interesting comment section. It feels more like a Not-Forum thread, but I am not sure if we have a thread for the specific type of creativity being expressed, where the conversation uses song titles of a particular artist as much as possible.
Jeff Ross[Continuing the scenario]
*Matthew, wearing a costume of a certain circular treat, chuckles at Ryan*
“Pun King? More like ‘done king’, am I right?.”
*Ryan looks puzzled.*
“No, I just made a…”
*Matthew then posterizes Ryan on the basketball hoop that Angie set up behind Ryan when he was making the gangster sign*
*Ryan looks bewildered and stumbles back*
“Where did you get the basketball, Matthew?”
“I always have a ball when I’m around you, Ryan.”
*As they finish their discussion, Angie posts a picture of the posterization to the Aux Cable’s instagram with the caption “Dunkin’ Doughnut”.*
(You may have to think about this one for a few minutes to picture all of the puns in this scenario.)
Jeff RossAway
Jeff RossFor phones, just hold on a letter in the virtual keyboard and the related characters that have diacritics will appear, and you can select the one you want. Here are tube quick visual tutorials, one for Samsung Galaxy and one for iPhone (they’re pretty much the same):
For computers, Windows has a cool built-in feature called “Character Map” that you can use to find any symbol from any font installed on your computer. Mac and Linux have similar programs available, but I am not as familiar with their names and functionalities. Here are a couple useful references:
Alternatively, you can use the ALT key with the number pad and the NUM LOCK turned on to input some characters without a character map. For example, holding the “ALT” key while typing “0248” with the number pad produces this symbol: ø
Feel free to play around and have fun with this feature a little bit. Let me know if there is anything I ought to clarify.
Jeff RossAwkward Potato, I think President Trump would say something like:
“I love The Aux Cable. Ryan and Matt only answer the best questions and give the best answers. When it comes to podcasting, they’re huge. The show is helping to Make America Great Again. I’d give it a 10 out of 10. However, we need to make sure that Matthew Bird enters the country legally. It’s not fair to everyone else if he enters without a valid passport. He will be subject to the travel ban if he doesn’t remember to renew his passport. There must be a passport, and he must pay Canada for it.”
I think that’s what the President would say after listening to Episode 036 of the podcast. I could be wrong.
Jeff RossKinetic
Jeff RossSo Kristen, how long did you spend fishing then? Was it over abruptly, because y’all were hyper-focused on actually catching fish, or did it last for a few hours anyway, since the point of going fishing was actually to spend time together rather than to catch fish?
Jeff RossApparently some restaurants use this video, but there’s supposedly a more modern one that most use. The technique is pretty consistent, even if the means of teaching it have changed.
Jeff RossI don’t really know who will like this video, but my Dad showed me this excerpt from a 1989 Wendy’s training video and I thought it was hilarious:
Jeff RossWould you like to know how to do it, Dawn? I can (or anyone else can) explain it very simply, for whatever electronic devices you use. Then you can utilize the keys whenever you write in foreign languages without having to adjust to an entirely new keyboard.
Jeff RossCouple insights:
People care about characters that they name after themselves far more deeply than they would any other character in any other story. It is a little irrational, but a tendency that every human has. When a writer puts himself into a story, he has higher expectations than normal.
Also (and I know this to be 100% the case for myself), when someone encounters a scenario that he has never encountered before and had never conceived to be possible, there is a tendency to emotionally react because of uncertainty on how to handle the scenario. I don’t think anyone thought that characters could (or would) be merged, let alone characters named for other authors, so an emotional response was elicited rather than a rationalization of how the characters could be re-separated (either literally or by means of a “just kidding!” type of plot device [or some other method]). The emotional response is an attempt to re-define the problem into one that is more familiar to solve. It’s neither right nor wrong in and of itself, but not optimal.
Call to action: Troy, don’t take offense at emotional responses toward your breaking unwritten rules in order to create a more interesting and creative story. Sometimes when being creative, the initial product can be a masterpiece in the eye of one while being rubbish in the eyes of another. Other times it’s better to try new things and see what happens, even if that reaction is negative. Reacting emotionally to an emotional response does not solve any problem. Instead, heed feedback and work to improve the product. Chris, don’t take offense at one author’s attempt to push the boundaries in an already fantastical tale. Just try to write a solution to the problem in the story itself or ask Troy to tweak his writing a little bit.
I think we all were pushing so hard to add to the story that this conflict was pushed to the side at first rather than fixing it right away. Now that the story is suspended, we’re over-analyzing why it stopped, just like Masøn said. Hopefully this post explains enough that we can get back onto the right track, but it’s going to be up to each of us to “bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another” (Colossians 3:13). If we need to add rules to this game, we can, but we need to be careful that we don’t ruin the essence of this creative exercise by over-regulation. I think all we need is to take a moment, breathe, realize how small the problem is, and fix it directly.
On the other hand, we can all just post brilliant thought pieces on this thread and turn this into an audio drama. xD I love reading what y’all right, whether silly or serious, so I’ll be happy either way. I just think we’ll all be more satisfied in the long run if we fix the issue.
Jeff RossLove
( 😀 It’s cool to see that my name ended up on the same word association page as “Josiah”, “Jedi”, and “God”. A trube honor.)
Jeff Ross#YouReallyAre
Jeff RossMy Interjection:
Pardon me for not downloading the Clarification Station app and having a difficult time following the story after the second commercial break, but is there a possibility that Chris’s and Troy’s characters could be interpreted or explained as still being distinct? I mean, this is a work of pure, unscientific fiction, so anything is possible. If we can find a way to keep the characters from actually permanently merging or being absorbed, the story in its current form should still be salvageable, as far as I can tell from this thread. That might resolve some of the contention revolving around what the story became compared to where it was going.
I would like to say
This story is outstanding
Just needs fine-tuning
I am more than happy to try and edit or clean up parts of the story, but I’m not scheduled to have much free time to do that until December. In the meantime, remind yourselves why you enjoyed this story so much and work toward restoring that feeling, no matter how much collaborative editing that may take.
Suffice it to say:
Whether we fix this story, re-start it, start over, or ditch it entirely for a new prompt, I think that this story, even with all its perceived flaws, has been the most successful collaborative creative writing project that I have ever been a part of. #YouGuysAreTheBest
Jeff RossAnd this is my prayer: That your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ– to the glory and praise of God.
(Philippians 1:9-11, NIV1984, and part of what I’m praying for Awkward Potato)
Jeff RossAll glory be to
God, who gave me this gift of
Counting syllables
And praise God above
Who brought me up with a large
Vocabulary
Glorify the Lord
Who blessed my mind for linking
The two together
(Perhaps a pop song
Is not what I should have made;
Unless it’s CHRIIIIIISSSTTTIIIAAANNNN)
Jeff RossPardon my counting:
“Tonight my dad called me” has
Just six syllables.
Jeff RossKart
Jeff RossI guess that is why
Some people may call you “The
Awe-kward Potato” 😀
Jeff RossSo the first chorus
Was actu’lly repeated
Sorry for mistake
