yes-- we have No bananas They have ... all sizes-- A man's a-- Will-o'-th'-wisp! the up-to-date-American- Home-comforts? I demand my ... share An apple a day-- -- --
Al wrote:
The Baroness' poem integrates snippets of Americanisms, boosterisms,
advertisement-isms ("the up-to-date American...."), ballyhoo'd bytes,
chamber of commerce phrase-pizzazz ("They have...all sizes"),
democracy-in-a-cliche ("I demand my...share"), etc. She's showing the
insanity of official linguistic optimism. She's showing that the American
language can be *used* and turned around by an unAmerican. Very
Ginsbergian ("American, I'm putting my queer shoulder to the wheel"!) in
a way. And - as I've been saying - very postmodern in the sense that she
is using or (re)constructing a social language, rather than claiming to
invent it anew or even to breathe fresh life into it. There's something
powerfully hackneyed about this particular insanity.