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Old 05-02-2008, 04:31 PM   #44
Disillusionist
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 83
Disillusionist will become famous soon enough
Re: Determining the Origin and Meaning of RPI

The really dead horse is the word 'groovy'.
It was kinda co-opted from the jazz culture, shortened from 'in the groove'. Interestingly enough, people who used the word 'groovy' ... weren't. I can only recall the Brady Bunch using it. And just see if you feel 'groovy' listening to Simon & Garfunkel's 59th Street Bridge Song (popularly called "Feelin' Groovy").

But, people were trying to relate an emotional set in language. I remember all the hubbub (okay, I don't because there really wasn't any) when 'in the groove' and hence 'groovy' gave way to 'in the pocket'. I mean, come ON, the groove, as everyone knew, was when the music got really -sweet- and made you feel good, although some people erroneously thought it meant 'in the groove of a vynil record album'. What does that have to do with pockets? That much larger and inferior bunch of people obviously were confused by people who had nothing to do with jazz. Damn hippies.

'In the pocket' enjoyed a pretty long run, even though it was broadened to mean a a foregone conclusion (billiards), a bribed official, or a secure location, but it did still retain a meaning about finding that little niche of emotions close enough to its original meaning that it wasn't entirely lost (even though jazz had given way to rocknroll, which gave away grudgingly to disco, which finally died a much-needed death only to be replaced by friggin' hiphop). By this point, however, no one was even saying 'groovy' any more, although it was clear the Brady Bunch was going into eternal syndication. Marsha Marsha Marsha!

But the -final- straw was 'in the zone'! How DARE people clinicize 'groovy' into such a banal generic term like zone??? It lacked artistry, and it usually meant 'oblivious to everything around you but the task at hand'! How could that -possibly- be groovy?

Yeesh!
I'm just glad the military doesn't give a rip that 'RPG' has be 'co-opted' by people in a relatively short span of time. I mean, Rocket-Propelled Grenades vs. Roleplaying Games...I don't want -those- guys mad at me.

I guess I'm playing the 'age card'. I've seen the language change drastically in a generation (I remember when you only heard the word 'gay' in a Christmas carol, and it meant 'happy', not 'homosexual' or 'generally bad'), so I just don't get my 'knickers in a twist'....no wait (modernize, Dis, Modernize!)....'undies in a bunch'....erm...that's dated....what is it now? "Panties in a wad"?
Next year, when the expressions change to 'in the chip', I won't get my 'thong in a noose'.

...because it just doesn't feel groovy.
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