It’s Hippable to be Square
We’re not sure, but we think we’ve been accused of suffering from “hormonal overload.” The Business Direct Weekly article isn’t online anymore, but Common Monkeyflower’s post about it quotes the following: “[N]o cool city is truly cool unless it touts its unhippability and disdain for itself. For that, we turn to the ‘Ann Arbor is Overrated’ site. All of which is fine and good — the who’s-cool/who’s-not debate has raged since the hormonal overload called junior high.” “Unhippability,” a form of the transitive verb “to hip,” is a word that we don’t see nearly enough around here.
We hope this will be the last self-referential post for at least the next week.
that quote is gibberish. Plenty of cool cities don’t tout self-loathing. After this incorrect assertion, the quote then muddies into complete opacity–I can tell he or she is ticked off, but that’s about all I get out of this poorly written spew.
posted by Laura on April 4th, 2004 at 1:33 amdon’t forget to spring forward! I freakin’ hate this clock change crap. Although I do like the new and improved longer daylight hours.
posted by Alex on April 4th, 2004 at 9:26 amI live in the totally cool city of Chicago and although we are well aware of its shortcomings, we also appreciate everything it has to offer. I guess Business Direct Weekly would not consider Chicago cool because we do not tout “its unhippability and self disdain.”
posted by sammy on April 4th, 2004 at 11:07 amYeah, I don’t think genuinely cool cities are really consumed in debates about their uncoolness - in LA and Chapel Hill, we were usually too busy, I don’t know, having fun to debate things like that. And “unhippability” is a nonsense word irregardless of what town you’re talking about.
And AAIO, they have excellent medications these days to take care of hormonal overload.
posted by Nick on April 4th, 2004 at 4:17 pmThat’s adorable when you call Chapel Hill cool! It reminds me of the way my little cousin idolizes his father, the accountant, who’s in jail for check fraud.
It’s just so cute!
posted by torONTo on April 6th, 2004 at 11:48 amOK. Not sure I follow your metaphor, Toronto. But maybe that’s because the concept of an inferiority complex is a little foreign to me.
posted by Nick on April 6th, 2004 at 12:21 pmI believe he’s impling that only someone dumb and naive (like a small child) could believe Chapel Hill was “cool”. And I think the “cute” bit was just condescention. But I coud be wrong.
posted by Brandy on April 6th, 2004 at 1:03 pmHey, Brandy, next time you get my back, run it through spell check first. You’re making me look bad. But you’re right. Dumb and naive. But this is also the guy who thinks Santa Monica (not really a town so much as an ocean side mall for star fuckers) is cool. Santa Monica is where Arnold Schwarzenegger goes to church. That’s just fucked up.
posted by torONTo on April 6th, 2004 at 3:16 pmI realize that my idea of “cool” might not be the same as everyone else’s, and that it might conflict directly with what Ann Arborites might consider cool. But don’t worry, I plan on getting the fuck out of this godawful place as fast I can - I’m sure moving back to either CH or SM will make all of us happier. In the meantime, Toronto, your childish self-congratulatory bullshit is duly noted.
posted by Nick on April 6th, 2004 at 5:01 pmAwww, wittle Nickie is starting to sound angwy….
Yeah, your moving will certainly make some people happy, but I don’t give a fuck as long as you stay out of the Commonwealth.
posted by torONTo on April 6th, 2004 at 5:13 pmof Virginia or PA?
posted by Alex on April 6th, 2004 at 8:08 pmWell, reiterating my earlier comment about inferiority complexes would be pointless, so I won’t. As would be reiterating comments about arguing with idiots on the Internet. But I will be spending the summer in PA (if that’s the Commonwealth you’re referring to), as I do quite often.
Once I’m back, though, I’ll return to my normal occupation, which is attempting to make banks foreclose on everyone’s farm, and seducing the country girls with my fancy clothes and fast car (sorry if I don’t have all my city-slicker-in-a-small-town cliches correct).
posted by Nick on April 6th, 2004 at 10:07 pmIn the words of Adam Ant: farmers lock up your daughters!
Please kids, let’s have us some levity.
posted by Alex on April 6th, 2004 at 10:46 pmThe Commonwealth of nations. That is, Britain and her former colonies, including Canada.
posted by Aussie on April 6th, 2004 at 10:55 pmtorONTo - as for spell check, I do believe that “ocean side” is one word, as in oceanside town.
posted by sammy on April 6th, 2004 at 10:58 pmI thought that Mass. was the only official “Commonwealth” (not state).
posted by js on April 7th, 2004 at 8:38 amjs
PA and Virginia are also commonwealths
posted by Alex on April 7th, 2004 at 9:14 amHey sammy, let’s look up the offending word, shall we?
Eudora’s spell-checker completely disapproves of oceanside, though it accepts oceanfront, which is also allowed by the American Heritage Dictionary. The AHD references Oceanside, but only as a specific city, and not a concept. The OED seems to prefer ocean-side, but the entry on compound words beginning with “ocean” is really long and I got bored reading. MS Word spell-check seems to require the capital “O” as well, implying they’re thinking of a proper noun, but then Bill Gates dropped out of college, didn’t he.
You, sammy, are a pedantic wad of fuck-snot. Which is fine. But you’re also wrong.
posted by torONTo on April 7th, 2004 at 9:22 amIt does bear repeating: it may be the spectacular scenery, the mild, sunny climate, or the booming job market that make you want to move to the Midwest, but it’s the friendly, charming, easy-going people that make you want to stay.
posted by Nick on April 7th, 2004 at 10:27 amThat and the endless supply of sheep for fornication purposes. You’re clearly aware that the county you live in has the most sheep of any county east of the Mississippi. You must be having a blast. But then, it’s understandable that you miss the exquisitely muscled buttocks of the steel workers and coal miners back in PA. Have a great summer! Don’t forget to write! Give my love to everyone at Babylon and the Baths! And remember you can always transfer to Pitt (too bad SMC doesn’t have Ph.D. programs–but it does have THE MOST TRANSFERS TO UCLA!). We’ll keep a chair warm for you at Sweetwaters just in case.
Come on, scoot. You can finish up this semester via e-mail.
posted by torONTo on April 7th, 2004 at 12:05 pmAnd yeah, I know, fag jokes are the last refuge of the uninspired, but if I’m not inspired, it must be your fault. Isn’t that how it works here? I only suck because Ann Arbor is such a void of a town, even to read about.
I take back everything. You folks just stay put. Have yourselves some lovely summers. Anyway, Pittsburgh’s not really the Queer as Folk town. As we all know,
posted by torONTo on April 7th, 2004 at 12:12 pmit’s torONTo
Fag jokes? Hope your asshole likes maple-flav’ou’red KY, Tonto.
posted by js on April 8th, 2004 at 10:38 amjs