Wednesday, February 13, 2008

A Midwinter Day's Nightmare, aka: Shakespeare vs Family Guy (part II)

The continuing tale of my trying to convince twelve year old boys that they like a four hundred year old play about fairies.

When I was in seventh grade, I observed that many of my peers were bad at school, but great at picking on me. Like dogs, it was as if they could smell that I was afraid. Unlike dogs, they would then use English to publicly ridicule me about whatever it was I dreaded most.

Worried that I had bad breath? They’d tell me I did. Worried that I didn’t have enough hair on my body? Oh, I’d hear about it. Worried that I had too much hair on my body? Even worse.

Today’s middle schoolers seem to have retained this trait, because one in my class said exactly what I didn’t want him to:

“This stuff’s not funny anymore! Maybe it was funny back then, but it’s not now. It’s stupid. What’s funny now is Family Guy. Do you really think this is funnier than Family Guy?”

I did think it was funnier than Family Guy, because I hate Family Guy. So I simply said “I’m not a good person to ask, because I don’t really like Family Guy to start with.”

When he regained his composure, he continued: “Then what about… South Park?”

The other students gasped, and drew back.

2 comments:

The Anagramerican said...

This is a funny post, and I like the serial format. But how does a blogger who derides the eggcorn feel about having typed this?

"When he regained his composer..."

Regaining your composer = getting your Bach back.

Aaron Kagan said...

Yes, the student in question had dropped a small, marble bust of Johann Sebastian Bach that he held in his hand, perhaps as a comfort item or "buppie." But if I went into every last detail, I would exceed the customary length for blog posts. That said, I have decided to change the original post to say "When he regained his composure," which, coincidentally, also makes sense.