April 16, 2013
Signifyin’ (vernacular) is a practice in African-American culture, involving a verbal strategy of indirection that exploits the gap between the denotative and figurative meanings of words. According to African-American literary scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., the practice derived from the Trickster archetype found in much African mythology, folklore, and religion: a god, goddess, spirit, man, woman, or anthropomorphic animal who plays tricks or otherwise disobeys normal rules and societal norms. In practice, signifyin’ often takes the form of quoting from subcultural vernacular, while extending the meaning at the same time through a rhetorical figure.
The expression itself derives from the numerous tales about the Signifying Monkey, a folk trickster figure said to have originated during slavery in the United States. In most of these narratives, the Monkey manages to dupe the powerful Lion by signifying. Signifyin(g) directs attention to the connotative, context-bound significance of words, which is accessible only to those who share the unique cultural values of a given speech community.
Continue reading →
Posted in Humor, Language, Politics |
Leave a Comment »
April 15, 2013
The Signifying Monkey is a character of African-American folklore that derives from the trickster figure of Yoruba mythology, Esu Elegbara. This character was transported with Africans to the Americas under the names of Exu, Echu-Elegua, Papa Legba, and Papa Le Bas. Esu and his variants all serve as messengers who mediated between the gods and men by means of tricks. The Signifying Monkey is ‘distinctly Afro-American’ but is thought to derive from Yoruban mythology, which depicts Echu-Elegua with a monkey at his side.
Numerous songs and narratives concern the Signifying Monkey and his interactions with his friends, the Lion and the Elephant. In general the stories depict the Signifying Monkey insulting the Lion, but claiming that he is only repeating the Elephant’s words. The Lion then confronts the Elephant, who soundly beats the Lion. The Lion later comes to realize that the Monkey has been signifyin(g) and has duped him and returns angrily. The Signifying Monkey is a classic routine originally on a comedy album by Rudy Ray Moore.
Posted in Humor, Language |
Leave a Comment »
April 15, 2013
‘The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literary Criticism’ is a work of literary criticism and theory by American scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. first published in 1988. The book traces the folkloric origins of the African-American cultural practice of ‘signifying” and uses the concept to analyze the interplay between texts of prominent African American writers, specifically Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston and Ishmael Reed.
Signifyin(g) is closely related to double-talk and trickery of the type used by the Monkey of these narratives, but, as Gates himself admits, ‘It is difficult to arrive at a consensus of definitions of signifyin(g).’ Bernard W. Bell defines it as an ‘elaborate, indirect form of goading or insult generally making use of profanity.’ Roger D. Abrahams writes that to signify is ‘to imply, goad, beg, boast by indirect verbal or gestural means.’ Signifyin(g) is a homonym with the concept of signification put forth by Semiotician Ferdinand de Saussure wherein the signifier (sound image) interacts with the signified (concept) to form one whole linguistic sign. Gates plays off this homonym and incorporates the linguistic concept of signifier and signified with the vernacular concept of signifyin(g).
Continue reading →
Posted in Humor, Language, Politics |
Leave a Comment »
April 15, 2013
In mythology, and in the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a god, goddess, spirit, man, woman, or anthropomorphic animal who plays tricks or otherwise disobeys normal rules and conventional behavior. The term was probably first used in this context by American ethnologist Daniel G. Brinton in 1885.
The trickster deity breaks the rules of the gods or nature, sometimes maliciously (for example, Loki) but usually with ultimately positive effects (though the trickster’s initial intentions may have been either positive or negative). Often, the bending/breaking of rules takes the form of tricks (e.g. Eris, Greek goddess of chaos) or thievery. Tricksters can be cunning or foolish or both; they are often funny even when considered sacred or performing important cultural tasks. An example of this is the sacred Iktomi of the Lakota, whose role is to play tricks and games and by doing so raises awareness and acts as an equalizer.
Continue reading →
Posted in Humor, Philosophy, World |
1 Comment »
April 15, 2013
Heyoka [hay-oh-kah] is a spirit in Lakota Mythology that is seen as a trickster. It speaks, moves and reacts in an opposite fashion to the people around it. It is not a spirit that people wish to meet at any time; it usually appears to people when it wishes to take something from you or cause some sort of mayhem.
The Lakota people have learned to respect it enough to leave it be, avoiding it as much as possible. The word refers to the Lakota concept of a contrarian, jester, satirist, or sacred clown. The Heyoka are healers and have many functions, for example healing through laughter and awakening people to deeper meaning and concealed truth and to prepare the people for oncoming disaster with laughter. Continue reading →
Posted in Humor, Philosophy |
Leave a Comment »
April 15, 2013
Ritual clowns, also called sacred clowns, are a characteristic feature of the ritual life of many traditional religions, and they typically employ scatology and sexual obscenities. Ritual clowning is where comedy and satire originated; in Ancient Greece, ritual clowning, phallic processions (or penis parades) and aischrologia (ritual insults) found their literary form in the plays of Aristophanes.
Two famous examples of ritual clowns in North America are the Koyemshis (also known as Koyemshi, Koyemci or Mudheads) and the Newekwe (also spelled Ne’wekwe or Neweekwe). French sociologist Jean Cazeneuve is particularly renowned for elucidating the role of ritual clowns; reprising Ruth Benedict’s famous distinction of societies into Apollonian and Dionysian, he said that precisely because of the strictly repressive (apollonian) nature of the Zuñi society, the ritual clowns are needed as a dionysian element, a safety valve through which the community can give symbolic satisfaction to the antisocial tendencies. The Koyemshis clowns are characterized by a saturnalian (riotously merry) symbolism.
Posted in Humor, Philosophy, World |
3 Comments »
April 12, 2013
In Tibetan Buddhism Crazy wisdom or ‘yeshe chölwa’ (Tibetan: ‘wisdom gone wild’) refers to unconventional, outrageous, or unexpected behavior, being either a manifestation of buddha nature and spiritual teaching (enlightened activity) on the part of the guru (‘teacher’ or ‘master’), or a method of spiritual investigation undertaken by the student.
It is also held to be one of the manifestations of a siddha or a mahasiddha (the highest level gurus). Continue reading →
Posted in Philosophy |
1 Comment »
April 11, 2013
Fortune-telling is the practice of predicting information about a person’s life. The scope of fortune-telling is in principle identical with the practice of divination (‘to foresee, to be inspired by a god’).
The difference is that divination is the term used for predictions considered part of a religious ritual, invoking deities or spirits, while the term fortune-telling implies a less serious or formal setting, even one of popular culture, where belief in occult workings behind the prediction is less prominent than the concept of suggestion, spiritual or practical advisory or affirmation. Historically, fortune-telling grows out of folkloristic reception of Renaissance magic, specifically associated with Gypsies. Continue reading →
Posted in Money, Philosophy, Politics |
1 Comment »
April 11, 2013
Querent [kweer-ent] as ‘one who seeks’ is derived, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, from the Latin word for ‘to seek, gain, ask.’ Querent denotes ‘a person who questions an Oracle,’ usually for otherworldly advice. This oracle may simply be a divinatory technique, such as the I Ching, that is manipulated by the Querent themselves without recourse to any other human agency. Alternatively it may involve another person, someone perhaps seen as a ‘fortune teller’ — particularly a Practitioner of Tarot reading or other form of Mediumship — from whom advice is sought.
The mindset of a Querent plays a significant role in a reading. Those who approach a reading with heavy skepticism, especially if they are dealing with a human oracle, are often unwilling to engage the Reader at all, which can result in a stifling of the prophetic flow that is required for divination. Conversely, some approach with great respect, as if they predetermine that the Diviner or the system of divination is influence by some kind of higher, even divine, power and thereby will believe virtually anything they are told. A third ideal group will talk freely with a human oracle and accept their advice with a healthy dose of skepticism, yet still remain open minded to the possibility of revelation.
Posted in Language, Philosophy |
Leave a Comment »
April 10, 2013
The Fool or The Jester is one of the 78 cards in a Tarot deck; it is in a suit of 22 trump cards called the ‘Major Acana.’ In many esoteric systems of interpretation, The Fool is usually interpreted as the protagonist of a story, and the Major Arcana is the path he takes through the great mysteries of life and the main human archetypes.
This path is known traditionally in Tarot as the ‘Fool’s Journey,’ and is frequently used to introduce the meaning of Major Arcana cards to beginners. The Fool is considered either the XXII or the 0 card in the suit, the highest or lowest trump). Traditionally, the Major Arcana in Tarot cards are numbered with Roman numerals. The Fool is numbered with the zero, an Arabic numeral. Continue reading →
Posted in Games, Philosophy |
1 Comment »
April 10, 2013
The Joker is a special type of playing card found in most modern decks, or else a type of tile in some Mahjong game sets, specifically used in the American version of Mahjong. It is believed that the term ‘Joker’ comes from ‘Jucker,’ the original German spelling of ‘Euchre,’ (a trick-taking card game for which the Joker card was invented).
The card was originally introduced in about 1860 to be used as the highest trump. Catherine Perry Hargrave documents jokers from 1862 and 1865 in her book ‘A History of Playing Cards.’ The 1862 card has a tiger on it and the label ‘Highest Trump,’ while the one from 1865 is inscribed ‘This card takes either Bower’ and ‘Imperial Bower,’ or ‘Highest Trump Card.’ Continue reading →
Posted in Games, Humor, Language |
1 Comment »
April 9, 2013
Building Stories is a 2012 graphic novel by American cartoonist Chris Ware. The unconventional work is made up of fourteen printed works—cloth-bound books, newspapers, broadsheets and flip books—packaged in a boxed set.
The work took a decade to complete, and was published by Pantheon Books. The intricate, multilayered stories pivot around an unnamed female protagonist with a missing leg. It mainly focuses on her time in a three-story brownstone apartment building in Chicago, but follows her later in her life as a mother. The parts of the work can be read in any order. Continue reading →
Posted in Art, Language |
Leave a Comment »
The Daily Omnivore 