Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for May 14, 2015

Huh?

I guess in “Finnegan’s Wake” they were all drunk and babbling. Or, everyone is talking at the same time and it sounds like one long run-on word.

If anyone really gets this, please explain.

Finnegan’s Wake is like that, fairly incomprehensible. It was James Joyce’s last work, and none of his books are easy, but I think he was trying to reach the limit of what he could invent, much of his wording is his own invention rather than English, how far from English could he get and still have a book people could read? he went pretty far, and many people loved his book, so in that sense it is an awesome success, but most people, me included, can’t be bothered reading it, it’s barely English.

Goat’s the more literate of the two and more likely to have read Joyce, so I’m for broken keyboard.

Maybe you need to be Irish to get it.

I believe it’s Gaelic for “I’m sober.”

I’ve read that damned book twice and i hated it both times. I vote broken keyboard

From Wiki:

James Joyce made up nine 100-letter words plus one 101-letter word in his novel Finnegans Wake, the most famous of which is Bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk. Appearing on the first page, it allegedly represents the symbolic thunderclap associated with the fall of Adam and Eve.

As it appears nowhere else except in reference to this passage, it is generally not accepted as a real word. Sylvia Plath made mention of it in her semi-autobiographical novel The Bell Jar, when the protagonist was reading Finnegans Wake.

Perhaps this is what done Finnegan in. ( It may not have done Joyce a lot of good, either.)

I’m very impressed that Rat is even aware of James Joyce, more so that he is able to quote from Finnegan’s Wake. Or maybe he’s just quoting from Wikipedia, like everyone else….

That is what happens on “GO COMICS” comments section if I type to fast.

So far only Rat and Wikipedia have got the title right. There’s no apostrophe in Finnegans Wake.

Whack fo’ the dannoDance to yer partnerSweep th’ floor, your cupboards shake!Wasn’t it th’ truth I tell ye’Lots of fun at Rat’s wake! —apologies to The ClancyBrothers and Tommy Makem

On 2nd thought, perhaps that should be the Capitals’s wake!GO NEW YORK RANGERS!!

e e cummings didnt have caps or punctuations, but at least he didnt run his words all together

Running those characters through Google’s translate’s voice repeat is beautiful music when selecting an Easter European or Middle Eastern language.

From Wiki:“In his comedy Assemblywomen (c. 392 BC) Aristophanes coined the 173-letter word λοπαδο­τεμαχο­σελαχο­γαλεο­κρανιο­λειψανο­δριμ­υπο­τριμματο­σιλφιο­καραβο­μελιτο­κατακεχυ­μενο­κιχλ­επι­κοσσυφο­φαττο­περιστερ­αλεκτρυον­οπτο­κεφαλλιο­κιγκλο­πελειο­λαγῳο­σιραιο­βαφη­τραγανο­πτερύγων. (Lopadotemachoselachogaleokranioleipsanodrimhypotrimmatosilphioparaomelitokatakechymenokichlepikossyphophattoperisteralektryonoptekephalliokigklopeleio-lagoiosiraiobaphetraganopterygon) A fictional food dish consisting of a combination of fish, poultry and other meat, it is cited as the longest ancient Greek word ever written.” So Joyce is doing nothing very new, except that Aristophanes’ word means something.

Well, at least Finnegan’s Wake did give us the word “quark”.

However, now I know I’m never going to try to read Finnegans Wake! (Thanks for the tip on “no apostrophe,” daDoc!)

The word he quotes here is supposed to be the sound of Finnegan falling off his ladder, fatally. It is composed of onomatopoeias for thunder in various languages. It is actually my favorite part of the book, and the only part I have memorized other than the opening sentence.Yes, I am a bit of a nerd.

I suspect few people have actually “read” Finnegan’s Wake. It’s rather like the Bible – which, if the truth is told, is itself a tough read. Many may look at the words as they turn the pages, but if reading implies comprehension, then I doubt they actually read it.`(I attempted Finnegan’s Wake once. I found it incomprehensible and boring. I quit after less than 50 pages.)

I’ve never read Finnegans Wake, but my Father did, and when he got to the end he said, “That’s a lot of trouble for a joke.”

thomas disch, in camp concentration, has a character say that finnegan’s wake can be attributed to james joyce suffering from syphilis, both the brilliance and the incoherence. not sure if he had any backup for that

I believe that “word” represents the sound made at the time of the creation.

How lovely, Rat.

xxx

Old Low Gallifreyan for “Hello, Sweetie!”

James Joyce is one of those authors that English teachers inflict on their students when they’re feeling especially sadistic.

“Whirlin’ yer whiskey around like blazes, Thunderin’ Jayzus, do ye think I’m dead?!”

I waited all day so that I could read the comments…. I’m sorry, or not, to tell you that the original name of this book was “Winnegan’s Fake”….. and you’ve all been had.

Broken keyboard

Is rat smoking a cigarette? Goat may have literally eaten the book and actually digested the contents