Slog - Comments on Semantics

Comment by Mr. Poe

Mr. Poe — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 13:48:41 -0800

I thought artsy was a polite way of saying absurdly pretentious.

Comment by Cato the Younger Younger

Cato the Younger Younger — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 13:54:10 -0800

Yes please Fnarf and Will in Seattle please respond! The rest of us are apparently worth shit on this one.

Comment by Jonah S

Jonah S — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 13:55:11 -0800

Nah Cato, I still care about you. They're just from Fremont.

Comment by Levislade

Levislade — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 14:01:38 -0800

"Artsy" is definitely different from "kooky," but they are in the same category, along with "whimsical" and "quirky," of words that make me wince.

I can't think of anything better right now, though . . . "Playful"? "Non-traditional"? "X-treme"?

Comment by maxsolomon

maxsolomon — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 14:04:50 -0800

the word you're all searching for is "unique".

Comment by dirge

dirge — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 14:11:55 -0800

I'm not sure what the hubbub is all about. You're clearly not quoting him, and the "kooky" feels much more like editorializing than paraphrasing.

And yes, artsy, when not followed by fartsy, shouldn't be used at all.

Comment by monkey

monkey — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 14:23:31 -0800

If kooky is that semi-craftman condo that looks like it's being overrun by brushed metal Tim Burton crabgrass then... yes, I call that kooky.

Comment by Levislade

Levislade — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 14:25:09 -0800

No, not unique either. Unique is thoroughly overused, and usually used incorrectly.

Unique New York. Unique New York. Unique New York. Unique New York. Unique New York.

Comment by Eric F

Eric F — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 14:28:17 -0800

The "kooky" buildings are the new ones, like that condo with aluminum arabesques all over it that freaked Savage out awhile back. The older stock in Fremont is about as boring, cheap, and ugly as Seattle gets. Take a walk up Francis Ave sometime.

Comment by Gitai

Gitai — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 14:30:02 -0800

How about we get some land developer to commission three hundred Gaudi style townhouses and make Fremont truly kooky?

Comment by Phenics

Phenics — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 14:31:01 -0800

When I was in college an apartment described as 'funky" usually meant walls at odd angles, carpet that sort of matched, and maybe a few wall holes spackled over. A cool place to live, usually cheap as fuck.

Now, long after college, when I see an apartment described as "funky" I read "a strange smelling dump of a place". But still cheap as fuck.

Comment by chunkstyle

chunkstyle — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 14:46:24 -0800

I wasn't called out, but as a Fremont resident, I'll add my $0.02:

Kooky scares away the donations that the FNC is looking for, while artsy sounds good to the average middle-aged granolas who wants to relive the splendor of their youth, and accordingly makes it easier to open their pocketbooks.

Comment by Andrea

Andrea — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 14:50:00 -0800

Jonah - I believe this isn't the first time you have been called out on the mat because you misquoted someone's intentions or thoughts.

You are a piece of shit - and your reporting sucks.

Get out of the city!

Comment by Will in Seattle

Will in Seattle — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 15:06:18 -0800

The reason he wanted us to respond is we live here (Fremont).

Kooky is a polite way for better-than-everyone Hillers to pronounce that their CD one-size-fits-all esthetic is better than all the peasants in the rest of the city.

Artsy is what it actually is.

And that brushed-metal condo you are referring to is actually one giant building, not five buildings as you've been led to believe.

A good example of artsy are the ones next to Rain City Video.

Should we be MORE artistic? Probably. But compared to the rest of the city, we're still doing pretty darned well.

Comment by elswinger

elswinger — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 15:10:51 -0800

Since you didn't attribute the word "kooky" in Toby's quote, I think he is overreacting. He should know that it wouldn't be a Stranger article without the reporter's opinion being expressed often.

Comment by longball

longball — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 15:13:53 -0800

When i think of Kooky, i imagine Tamy Fay Baker, or Charo - so i really don't think it's a synonym for "artsy" at all.

When i think of fremont, i think of "character". It has character. Of course it has faux character goin in lately such as the oft mentioned condo with with bizarro sculpturing. blech.

Comment by DOUG.

DOUG. — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 15:34:12 -0800

Fremont Mayor and Rick Santorum supporter Suzie Burke doesn't care what you think, just keep paying your rent and she'll continue funneling it onto Dubya, Reichert and Rossi.

Comment by Fnarf

Fnarf — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 15:35:30 -0800

I do NOT live in Fremont. Geez.

"Art" in Fremont does not mean the same thing it means in most of the rest of the world. It DOES mean "kooky", insufferably so in the most banal, infantile, look-at-me childish ways imaginable. There are a lot of things to like about Fremont, but the art isn't one of them. Neither is the kookiness.

Case in point: Fremont Troll. This is close to the single worst piece of art in America, worse than the entire collected works of Thomas Kinkade, and nearly as bad as Dale Chihuly's masterpieces.

Comment by Callie

Callie — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 15:59:37 -0800

I'm glad you responded to this, Fnarf.

Comment by hipsterlite

hipsterlite — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 16:23:15 -0800

yeah get it right! fnarf is from west seattle, endorses gold-bond medicated powder and holds court at the old-time country buffet!!! sheesh

Comment by Jonah S

Jonah S — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 17:41:42 -0800

Sorry Fnarf, my mistake. I thought you said you lived in Fremont too.

Comment by lostboy

lostboy — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 18:22:57 -0800

Eric F @9 has a solid point. My girlfriend and I have been looking at places around Wallingford/Fremont to move in, and so far non-dumps are the exception.

At least if we keep to only partly insane rents. If we could afford $3-$4/ft^2, it'd be a lot easier to find the kind of funky that used to be cheap.

Comment by Thomas Kinkade

Thomas Kinkade — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 20:50:14 -0800

Mr. Fnarf wrote "Case in point: Fremont Troll. This is close to the worst piece of art in America, worse than the entire collected works of Thomas Kinkade, and nearly as bad as Dale Chihuly's masterpieces."

Thank you, I always appreciate good words from my fans. The Fremont Troll is too gritty to appear in one of my prin....er, paintings. Hence, my paintings are better than the Fremont Troll.

Comment by Toby Thaler

Toby Thaler — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 17:32:50 -0800

Holy whatever, if I had realized what a simple email calling Jonah on his almost-mis-quote would generate! I shouldn't even have said arty or artsy or anything like it; I agree in retrospect that along with whimsical et al. it is a boosterism and has little meaning.

What we want (and what the article clearly pointed out) is that regardless of the adjectives applicable to any particular neighborhood, we want more control over what happens in them.

Also, as an "average middle-aged granola who wants to relive the splendor of his youth" I never thought of money for the FNC. In fact, the dues are very low, and membership has more to do with increased political legitimacy for the organization than with paying our bills.

Comment by Celebrex vi

Celebrex vi — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 04:12:13 -0800

capsules Celebrex