“In computational complexity theory, a probabilistically checkable proof (PCP) is a type of proof that can be checked by a randomized algorithm using a bounded amount of randomness and reading a bounded number of bits of the proof. “
I will never use it that way, but I will use it, you may be certain of it. :)
A snowclone is a type of cliché sometimes defined as “a multi-use, customizable, instantly recognizable, time-worn, quoted or misquoted phrase or sentence that can be used in an entirely open array of different variants.”
I find them interesting. You know? Those phrases that have such a distinct identity, you can leave some blanks (to be filled in to fit what you are trying to communicate) and people still get the reference. I don’t think I have ever played Mad Libs, but I bet I would enjoy it because it is built around phrasal templating (is that a word?). Here are some I like (and yes, I actually threw all of these into this image via www.picnik.com).
Oops..I see one of them on there twice.
Forever my baby. Born on “tax day” (finally, the day was redeemed) and during a freak ice storm in Sioux City, Iowa. She was a big baby, even though we were total vegan at the time. And she was born to applause because the doctor, at the teaching hospital there, was so impressed with how well Dave and I were handling the labor process (I’d been through it…a few times, very recently, actually). He asked more than once if they could bring the students and interns in to observe us. I said no several times, but when it got to the “really fun” part, my defenses were low and when I said yes, the room filled with 20+ observers who cheered us on and affirmed our expertise in baby making and birthing.
But even though she arrived center stage, the star of the show, and though she holds the position as baby-of-the-family, Stormie has never been the “typical” version of that. She was never an “absent-minded, friendly manipulator with a craving for the spotlight and everyone’s rapt attention,” those things commonly used to describe her birth order ranking.
Stormie Dae, born with a headful of dark hair, just entered the family quietly and sweetly, enthralled by all the activity in a home with 4 older siblings, 1 1/2, almost 3, almost 4 and almost 7 years of age (that’s right: 5 kids in less than 7 years). She brought joy and a certain sweetness. She got her daddy’s personlity: easy-going, peaceful, servant-hearted and deeply loving. She got his dimples, too. And she won my heart.
Because words and song are how I show my love. So when I started listing my words, I couldn’t get Michael Buble’s song “Everything” out of my head, so it was hard not to turn this into a song-lyric-poen thing, but maybe that is as it should be. Because, “You Took My Heart by Surprise” and since the day you came I have wanted to be “Close to You.” But maybe none of this means anything since I have also been singing Stephen Bishop’s “Save it for a Rainy Day” for 3 days now, too?
You may need to open another screen to see all 50 or 75 of them?
created at www.picnik.com (just plopped lots of words with 3 different fonts onto a photo from Stormie’s (and Steph’s) www.maydae.com blog
When you blog, there are “robots” out there crawling around on their slimy underbellies looking for places to deposit sick and disgusting “comments” with links to their perverted websites. These “comments” are generally 3872+ words long and they are all bad words, combinations, however, of the same limited, vile vocabulary used repeatedly ad naseum . So actually there are only about 78 words. They are just “creatively” re-arranged for “impact.”
Usually I just get rip-roaring ticked off, like how dare you crawl onto my site and leave this pile of donkey dung, but today, for just a moment I looked at it and had to laugh at the stupid nincompoop who sat and typed all that stuff out. It is every dumb, degrading, distorted and naughty word a 12-year-old boy heard on a bus and tried to impress his friends by repeating.
And people choose to make their living this way? I feel sorry for them because I heard all these words years ago and they can’t seem to come up with anything new for their own specialty lexis. What size must your brain be (and any of the other random parts of you that you seem to wish to discuss) if that is all that is in there?
The thrill is gone, my friends, gone. You’re out of words, so shut up already! No amount of stringing these objectionable obscenities together can reward you with the pleasure and joy of discovery for the pure-hearted innocent. You wish you had what they have!
Stay off my site, you freaking idiots! What would your mother say? Sincerely…Jeanie
NOTE TO SELF: Use words to bring life. “May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer…” Psalm 19.14 NIV. Maybe I shouldn’t have called these people “freaking idiots”?