[linux-audio-user] [OT - Apostrophe]

[Jos Laake]

RickTaylor at speakeasy.net wrote:
> On 29-Jun-2004 luis jure wrote:
> }  Jos Laake <jos at radiks.net> escribió:
> 
> } > I believe it's a reference from the Frank Zappa song "Apostrophe", no?
> } >  From the album of the same name.
> } > 
> } > I belive the line goes:
> } > "The crux of the biscuit is the Apostrophe." - FZ
> }  
> }  right. "it should be easy to see..."
> 
> } > What it means?  I have no idea.  Random silliness from the Master
> } > is my guess. ;-)
> }  
> }  i don't see it as random. i'm not a native speaker of english, but i think i
> }  can follow how zappa developed a funny variant of the idioms that use the
> }  word"crux" (meaning of course "decisive point", and not "cross"), mainly
> }  "the crux of the matter", but also "the crux of the problem/conflict", "the
> }  crux of the discussion/debate", etc.
> }  
> }  it's very probable that zappa himself invented the expression (can anyone
> }  trace it to a predating source?), perhaps melding "crux of the matter" and
> }  "crust of the biscuit". 
> }  
> }  it appeared first in the song "stink foot", which was included in the album
> }  "apostrophe" from 1974. zappa also used the expression in conversation, i
> }  remember reading interviews where he used this peculiar idiom.
> 
>  I think you've got to look at that one in context... It is the dog explaining
>  "conceptual continuity" after all. Maybe it means that the "important bits" of
>  his biscuit are missing and therefore must be filled in by the imagination or
>  out of habit like we use an apostrophe to fill in the missing bits of words or
>  contractions. Whether the actual important bits of the biscuit are the ends or
>  perhaps the dog has begun his biscuit fest by biting the biscuit middle is
>  something, I think, that Frank has left up to the listener to determine... the
>  actual import of the statement being that the bits are missing thus breaking 
>  the biscuit continuity and that we've filled things in with one of the above
>  mentioned devices. ...Like the apostrophe.
> 
>  I'm thinking this represents Franks tribute to mans imagination. ...The idea
>  that we, as humans, are capable of imagining things like talking dogs ...maybe
>  it's a contrast with the stark reality of stinky feet... which Frank may use
>  to illustrate the "street" or the baser human elements.
> 
>  So... Frank basically is contrasting the sublime with the human here...
>  telling us that what's important lies in the mind and not in the physical.
> 
>  It's just so typically Frank.

"The poodle bites.    (Come on Frenchie.)
  The poodle chews it. (Snap it!)" - FZ

<sigh>  Such GENius!

~Jos~