Admin, we need a humor category, yesterday please!
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    Period
  • MarkThompson
    Posts: 768
    Why does this feel so much like it was produced by a dummy text generator? I'll have a go:

    Do in laughter securing smallest sensible not more hastened. As perhaps proceed in in Brandon of limited unknown greatly. Distrusts fulfilled happiness unwilling as explained of difficult. No landlord of peculiar ladyship attended if contempt ecstatic. Loud wish made on is am as hard. Court so avoid in plate hence. Of received one's breeding concerns peculiar securing landlord. Spot to many it four bred soon well to. Or am promotion in no departure abilities. Whatever landlord yourself at by pleasure of children be.

    Was justice improve age article between. No projection as up preference reasonably delightful celebrated. Preserved and abilities assurance tolerably breakfast use saw. And painted letters forming far village elderly compact. Her rest west each spot his and you knew. Estate gay wooded depart six far her. Of we be have it lose gate bred. Do separate removing or expenses in. Had covered but evident chapter matters anxious.

    In alteration insipidity impression by travelling reasonable up motionless. Of regard warmth by unable sudden garden ladies. No kept hung am size spot no. Likewise led and dissuade rejoiced welcomed husband's boy. Do listening on he suspected resembled. Water would still if to. Position boy required law moderate was may.

    Thanked by 1Gavin
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    Mark, the only part you got right was "Dummy."
    Glad to know the Strunk and White Patrol is on the job, though, and apparently doing a better job than the border patrol.
    Thanked by 1Gavin
  • Don't. Do. Drugs.
    Thanked by 2Jahaza melofluent
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    Friends don't let friends do Sprats.
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,509
    Personally I've always thought that trying to communicate intelligibly was an act of kindness.

    Not trying to communicate intelligibly isn't exactly unkind, but it does tend to make people feel left out. It's sort of like speaking in a language that not everyone at the table understands.

    No offense intended. I just don't understand why anyone who takes the time to write for others' "ears" wouldn't take care to make themselves understood.
  • G
    Posts: 1,400
    I love you Melo, but sometimes, I am just befuddled to the point of silverstoniousness.

    Kathy, should the second paragraph read "unintelligibly"?

    (Save the Liturgy, Save the World)
    Thanked by 2Ben francis
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,509
    Yes! Sorry, that was unintendedly unintelligible! Fixed.
  • When I can't understand your words, Melo, I try to understand who you are talking to. It's often not me, but an inside reference. And I'm totally ok with that.

    Melo, when I can't understand your words, I am blessed enough to know you and not be worried about what you might say. I'm also comfortable questioning you and disagreeing with you. You already know your style invites questioning, and hey I'm ok with that in general. You can tweak it if and how and when you like.
  • Reval
    Posts: 186
    Wait - - there was a Baltic fish fest at CMAA? I totally would have been there, if only I had known...maybe next time...
    Thanked by 2melofluent CHGiffen
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    Back in the doghouse, again....

    It is meant as humor, folks. Look at the topic title. About little fish in a can. That's all.
    Is that better? We good now?

    But I must quote John Lennon here after Indy-
    "Don't bring me down."
  • Stick with Beatles references and I will prob get them.
    Yes, bring on the humor!
    I am especially in need, after kidney stone surgery.

    This, too, shall pass.

    BADDA BOOM!
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen melofluent
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    Perhaps only Andrew Malton, Reval and a few others have privately discerned the irony that's played out here, namely intelligibility and comprehension are not considered prime movers of the "language of liturgy" upheld in this august forum, but they are sacrosanct and mandatory qualities every post must have in the same forum!
    No room for humour, "No room for sargeants, only OFFICERS," here in MSF. And there's plenty of good room for passive-aggressivity.
    Richard Chonak, feel free to close this thread down. I'm in terra firma, subject to gravity, back in "my place."
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • kenstb
    Posts: 369
    MaryAnn, feel better, but don't laugh too hard, that might smart a little. Melo, when I don't understand you, I know that everything is okay. It's when I do understand you without any clarification that I worry. ; )
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    I'm in terra firma, subject to gravity, back in "my place."

    I once found myself reading a book about anti-gravity. I couldn't put it down.
  • Personally I've always thought that trying to communicate intelligibly was an act of kindness.

    Not trying to communicate intelligibly isn't exactly unkind, but it does tend to make people feel left out. It's sort of like speaking in a language that not everyone at the table understands.

    No offense intended. I just don't understand why anyone who takes the time to write for others' "ears" wouldn't take care to make themselves understood.


    Such a kindness for going out of your way to roundly insult Melo for his wordsmithing, when you, yourself, are fond of digging deep into the language bucket at times in your work and your messages.

    Honestly, you repeatedly bring to mind certain teaching sisters from my childhood, not always a pleasant thought.

    Melo's light-heartedness when dealing with tough subjects is a breath of fresh air in what can be a stuffy forum - let's not berate him and cut off his oxygen.
    Thanked by 1melofluent
  • kenstb
    Posts: 369
    Uh-oh...a shot at the nuns who used to regularly smack my talented fingers with a ruler. Tell us more, Noel. Tell us more...
  • No rulers, a principal, Sr. Carmela who disciplined first graders by taking by the shoulders and shaking them violently

    Of course, expecting a teaching sister to deal with behavior problems in a class of 45...send them to Sr. Carmela.

    Unfortunate to beat up on kids who would rather sit quietly at their desk reading books in their lap...until it was discovered in the late 3rd grade that the student was not inattentive, the student was totally unable to see the blackboard....glasses solved that.
    Thanked by 1kenstb
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,216
    The first-grade teacher who hit me with a ruler for looking out the window after my exercises were done was in a public school, so I have no sad memories of mean nuns.
  • WendiWendi
    Posts: 638
    I had one teacher treat me badly. Thankfully, I had a father who wasn't cowed and called her on it. All children should be so blessed.

    Lest you think I was a coddled child...he was also quite capable of explaining to me the error of my ways when I was in the wrong. (which happened occasionally...a saint I am not.)

    To those who decided to smack Charles down for sharing something humorous...get over yourselves already. If you don't understand something...then just move on. You aren't impressing anyone.
  • The few nuns in grade school were a mixed bag for me.
    Some had a bright spark, and some were burnt out and resentful.

    The funny thing is I am the only one I know of to pursue music degrees and work with choirs. This is most ironic because I am also the only one I know of- girl or boy- who was so cheeky I got kicked out of choir in 8th grade. Truly, I was horrid- not proud of that.

    When children misbehave in "my" loft now, I often think of Sr. Vivian and realize I'm getting some comeuppance.
  • Melo, I've taken the call for humor to heart.
    Have you read through my (what might be...) outlandish scenarios on Ben's thread?
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,509
    Strangely enough, I have a different rep with my students, who actually know me, than with Noel, and apparently Melo. I'm not the mean lady teacher who is always disapproving, but the probably too nice lady teacher who probably lets the wild boys get away with ADHD behavior no one else would. (Unfortunately--speaking just of teaching skills here-I find ADHD boys adorable.)

    One story: some of my students (who were at Colloquium, although I'd prefer they not be "outed" here please), told me one day after rehearsal that I have a characteristic gesture for when I'm lying. What would happen is, the group would chant something pretty badly, and I would say something like, "Good! Why don't we do that again?" But when I said, "Good!" I would unconsciously put my finger to my nose like a con artist in The Sting. (For those of you young uns like Mary Ann, that was a movie :)

    I have what poker players call a "tell," a signal that says I'm bluffing. But I also try to give my singers the benefit of the doubt, praise them, and encourage them.

    Above I was addressing something very specific, and if the recipient of the message would try to take it in the spirit offered, as a request for help, he might respond positively. I was appealing to that possibility, and I still am. Charles, you are certainly capable of writing in a way that is both highly expressive and clearly readable. You often do write that way. Doesn't that seem like a good thing?
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,978
    The nuns - very few were nuns but sisters - I have encountered fell into two camps. They were either wonderful, or genuine misfits who landed in the Church because no one else would put up with them. Fortunately, most were in the wonderful camp.

    I am retired from teaching but still maintain close relationships with my former students. They are great kids and if they had problems with teachers, it was because those teachers would not let them be kids.
  • Above I was addressing something very specific, and if the recipient of the message would try to take it in the spirit offered, as a request for help, he might respond positively. I was appealing to that possibility, and I still am. Charles, you are certainly capable of writing in a way that is both highly expressive and clearly readable. You often do write that way. Doesn't that seem like a good thing?


    "Listen, I'm going to stick this little knife in your shoulder, it's going to hurt a bit, but it's going to make you perform better and people are really, really going to watch you and like what you are doing while I wave this red flag and then, we're going to cut your throat!"

    WIKI: Although a blood sport, by definition, some followers of the spectacle prefer to view it as a 'fine art' and not a sport, as there are no elements of competition in the proceedings.

    You feel that you have the right to tell a creative list member to curb their creativity for the good of...what you think is right. Does he have to wear a star on his jacket, too?

    And why do you lie to your choir? They would not know you were lying when you touched your nose...unless they knew their singing was not "Good!".
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    Admin's let me know that it is a preference to let threads unravel and disappear on their own, and that's fine.
    I very much appreciate that even my detractors recognize that I'm an "odd duck," but one with skills of communication that straddle the orthodox/unorthodox divide. I've never had anyone associate me with ADHD, but I take the point.
    I appreciate even more those who look beyond my personality "flaws" (as if I act the fool like Laughton's Quasimodo in the HUNCHBACK) and try to know my heart as well as my mind.
    All I can say now is that joy, thanksgiving and that residue of a beautiful week are gone. Yes, words must stand and count for something, and I had to learn at a very early age that comedy could charm and disarm stress and fury among children at school, "sticks and stones" and all that.
    I just don't understand the need to hurt people with words, albeit in their "best interest" presumably with charity as a rationale.
    We will never amount to the unified voice of reason and right if we, ourselves, cannot suffer each other as Christ commanded us, and see Him in each other and accept them as they are.
    I've had friends from the loyal opposition contact me over the years and say "You know you come across like a jerk." Those same folk also let me know that's basically how they view we of CMAA in general. When we throw sand (or as DA says "poo") at each other in our own sandbox, what are we to expect if it's obvious we prefer to cannibalize each other, than to tolerate each others foibles?
    And as I bow out of this thread and a relationship, I'll do what I do and quote the fictional Forrest Gump, "And that's all I have to say about that."
  • Yeah!

    (translation into melofluentese:)

    There is joy in Mudville as the message, though deep and yet light, reaches a penultimate stage, fleeing yet staying, but also cutting and, like leaves in the wind, flapping in a soundless wave that we may all surf on into oblivion, as composed by Piazzolla.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDCB1GqwL0I
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,509
    I don't think you come across as a jerk, Melo. I think you come across as extraordinarily sensitive.

    I think Noel comes across as an angel on your bad shoulder...
    Thanked by 1Gavin
  • I think Noel comes across as an angel on your bad shoulder...


    You are allowed to use the word Devil on this forum.
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,700
    This whole thread is full of face-palm.
  • epmurphy
    Posts: 4
    I'd suggest we all hold hands and sing "Kumbaya", but I have a sneaking suspicion that would only make most of the fine members of this forum angrier.
    Thanked by 2Kathy Gavin
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,509
    You are allowed to use the word Devil on this forum.
    Not sure what the correct term is.

    "The guy who wants to magnify and distort well-intentioned advice from a friend into A YELLOW STAR or, alternatively, THE EVIL SR. CARMELA" just doesn't have the required pithiness for the interwebs.

    So keep trying to help there, Noel, you're doing great so far.
    Thanked by 1Gavin
  • "The guy who wants to magnify and distort well-intentioned advice from a friend into A YELLOW STAR or, alternatively, THE EVIL SR. CARMELA" just doesn't have the required pithiness for the interwebs.

    Now this....really sounds like something Melo would have written - difficult to follow, requires a dictionary and a lot of head-scratching. He's rubbing off on....
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,509
    Haha, fair point.
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    I am happy to report that my order of a case (36 tins) of my Riga catfoood, SPRATS is in the possession of my beautiful wife at work.
    It couldn't have arrived at a better moment as I have a pastoral council meeting this evening at 6pm PST.
    Please pray that I won't exhibit any scented evidence of the pescal pate whilst orating upon the state of musical worship and liturgy.
    (Though I am prepared to say that our Lord provided fish for breakfast to Peter et al after His Resurrrection.
    Would that Jesus had Amazon.
    .......
    Oh, wait, He does!