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Arbs?

“Michigan hookup” hits the big time! Uber-popular blog whatevs.org, which we’ve always found annoying in that Old Navy commercial, can’t-look-away kind of way, picks up the story. “[I] say this kind of frank discourse is buzzworthy for the entire city of Ann Arbs.”

After reading this, and perusing a few other A-list blogs, we realized how out of it we are with blogger slang, and we’re going to try to do better by doing the following:

  • Using “best” as a non-superlative adjective. “I got this balloon valance at From Vintage to Vogue Home…it’s so best.”

  • Replacing the last syllable or syllables of words with an ’s.’ Downtown Devs Auths. Greenbs.
  • Referring to other bloggers in the in-crowd as [first name][name of blog]. Rob Goodspeed Update. Hillary The Bunker. Larry Polygon, the Dancing Bear.

And, since we know you can’t hear enough about week-old Daily stories of questionable taste, here’s one faculty member’s take on the infamous “snobs” debacle. He doesn’t demand an apology for the parody, which he believes to have displayed an ignorance of “the history of anti-Semitic rhetoric,” but calls for “an exchange of views” about what was possibly funny about it.

17 Responses to “Arbs?”


  1. So can we start calling you AAIO Ann Arbor Is Overrated?

    posted by George on February 4th, 2004 at 8:25 am e

  2. heh.

    posted by Anna on February 4th, 2004 at 8:27 am e

  3. Curses! We cannot let the meme spread! Michigan hook-up is bullshit!
    js

    posted by js on February 4th, 2004 at 8:35 am e

  4. I wouldn’t worry, JS. The worst thing that might happen is that everyone will realize that, indeed, they were having and enjoying oral sex before Michigan said they thought of it. At which point they’ll lightly dismiss our students as being ignorant and self-absorbed.

    As far as an exchange of views on the “snobs” story, I’d be interested to hear what, if anything, anyone found funny about that extremely unfunny piece.

    posted by Nick on February 4th, 2004 at 9:31 am e

  5. I WAS A TO OFFENDED BY YOUR UNCALLED FOR ATTACK ON UNCLE GRAMBO AND THE VERY FINE PEOPLE OF WHATEVS. WHAT ARE THEY DOING TO YOU LATELY? I RUN A SMALL WEBSITE COMING FROM THE TOWN OF IRON MOUNTAIN, MICHIGAN AND HE WAS FRIENDLY ENOUGH LINK TO ME. YOU HAVE THE JEALOUSY ISSUES TO WORK OUT MAYBE IT IS LACK OF LOVE FROM PARENTS OR SIGNIFICANT LOVED MEMBERS OF FAMILY. AS UNCLE GRAMBO IS A SURE WOULD SAY, YOU ARE A “DOUCHEBAG”. VAARWEL.

    posted by TOO MUCH ROOTBEER on February 4th, 2004 at 10:09 am e

  6. We could refer to causation, by quoting the sold-out sticker:

    Ann Arbor Sucks

    But I won’t.

    posted by Leighton on February 4th, 2004 at 10:13 am e

  7. 1. The use of a suplerlative in place of a superlative statement is acceptable. Who will really take the time to say, “it was the best experience ever?”
    2. Language inevitably takes shortcuts, gets lazy, drops endings and adds Ss. Witness the Romance languages: all are just really sloppy provinical Latin.
    3. This custom was popularized by the musical press years ago, like all journalistic shortcuts, to save space. “Paul McCartney from the Beatles” becomes “Paul Beatle.” “Dan, anonymous writer from Ann Arbor is Overrated” is Dan AAIO, which sadly sounds like Danny Aiello.

    posted by nitpicker on February 4th, 2004 at 10:30 am e

  8. It will be interesting to see how your viewership may spike because Grambo linked to your site.
    But really, pretty much every blog is annoying in that almost all cover pop culture. Except, I guess, for the relatively minor ones that aim their criticism towards one thing.

    posted by laura on February 4th, 2004 at 10:33 am e

  9. Did you guys read that philosophy professor’s letter in the Daily? The writing was much worse than Ms. Ramsey’s column. Reading it was like watching Admiral Stockdale in the ‘92 Vice Presidential debates.

    posted by Lucky Jackson on February 4th, 2004 at 10:49 am e

  10. I didn’t think it was worse. I thought he had some good points, too.

    posted by Anna on February 4th, 2004 at 10:53 am e

  11. And I was already about to exceed my bandwidth last month.

    I guess whatevs.org falls into the “bizarrely compelling” category - if it weren’t funny, I wouldn’t read it all the time.

    posted by ann arbor is overrated on February 4th, 2004 at 12:19 pm e

  12. Hey, if you exceed your bandwith, I’ll pitch in. The shout out from Too Much Rootbeer Iron City was worth it.

    posted by Anna on February 4th, 2004 at 12:25 pm e

  13. I think TOO MUCH ROOT BEER said Iron Mountain, Anna. I guess you can leave Pittsburgh, but Pittsburgh doesn’t leave you.

    posted by Nick on February 4th, 2004 at 3:47 pm e

  14. Ahh yes, you’re right. But is Iron Mountain under- or over-rated?

    posted by Anna on February 4th, 2004 at 4:23 pm e

  15. Iron Mountain is Not Yet Rated.

    posted by Brandon on February 4th, 2004 at 11:13 pm e

  16. Anna, that’s very sweet of you. I think I’ll be okay - the words “Ann Arbor” may cause readers to fall into a narcoleptic state before clicking the link.

    posted by ann arbor is overrated on February 4th, 2004 at 11:22 pm e

  17. For the amount of traffic you get just from my office, you should probably be charging me.

    posted by Anna on February 5th, 2004 at 11:02 am e