Disassociated

[talktooloose]

I've heard other's describe this phenomenon, too: you see an everyday word in a book or on a sign and suddenly it floats free of its meaning and looks totally new and alien.

Today it was the word "Happy" seen on back-to-back subway posters for "Pursuit of Happyness" (wtf to that spelling. I'm-a killing you) and "Happy Feet".

The word suddenly looked meaningless and obscure. It felt like a neologism for "arduously encumbered" or "making a noise like a duck".

Comments

[ginalin.livejournal.com]

My favorite spelling for that word is "hap-penis".

[nekidwhiteboy.livejournal.com]

I totally do this, and have done it all my life, whenever I repeat any word out loud over and over. The very first word I ever did this with was "snake". I heard my mama say it out loud (she'd found one in the chicken coop) and I thought it sounded funny, so I repeated it: "snake snake snake snake snake snake snake snake snake snake snake snake snake snake snake snake snake snake snake sn-" and by then I caught myself thinking "what the fuck does snake mean again?"

I've never done it with anything in print. It is a bit unsettling though, isn't it?

[briseur.livejournal.com]

mine was "am." While looking in a mirror. At age six. They should've known.

[ultramundanecom.livejournal.com]

Perhaps the secret to being happy is to quack while carrying heavy objects.

I supppose it's worth a shot.

[nyahnyahnyah.livejournal.com]

Darling. If you're gonna use "I'm-a," the rule is that you have to use either "keeel" or "kill" after it.

Thusly have I spoken, and it is so.