Fun with Words

Oh, it's been a fun day in the newsy world! First and foremost, I got a rather laudatory mention in Travis' Travels this week. For those too lazy to click on the link, I will provide the text itself:

Alaina
Jarcy's Motel, Dean's Diner, Penn's Cave, Nittany Mall, Insect Fair, Bellefonte, Ebensburg, Late Night, New York

Alaina and I met in 11th grade over a plate of General Tso's chicken at LuLu's Noodles in Oakland. We were just friends until the first week of Travis' Travels, when I somehow wooed her by taking her to a creepy motel and a duck pond.

Without Alaina, Travis' Travels wouldn't have happened. She came up with the idea or dragged me along with her to go to a bunch of these places.

No offense to these other chumps, but Alaina really is the best traveling companion there is. She's smart. She's funny. She takes damn good photos. She's a snappy dresser, and she's cute.

Plus she's a pretty decent bassist at Rock Band.

Nothing but truth there, I can tell you. I am rather cute.

Nextly, I read Venues which was rather Travis-centric. Kevin Doran wrote his column as one big Travis compliment and Travis himself had a column about the sublime joys of Sonic and the cruel tragedy of not having one within a bajillion miles of here. I assume some people are still too lazy to click on the link, so here's how his column began:

October 2001: America starts bombing Afghanistan; Apple launches the iPod; and Sonic, a chain of drive-in restaurants, launches its first national ad campaign.

Since then, we've won the war on terror and the iPod has proven itself a passing fad -- but Sonic's commercial onslaught continues.

Hee. Not the most cloaked sarcasm in the world. However, there are some poor souls who didn't really understand this. Case in point: an email that he just received from a dedicated reader.

You're an IDIOT!

Referring to your juvenile article on Sonic restaurants:

1. Not only is the iPod an ongoing sales phenomenon for Apple. with
over 100 million sold as of April this year but...

2. We have not won the war on terror.

I see you are a "senior" majoring in Journalism. Were you ASLEEP for
the 1st three years of study!

You don't spend 20 seconds checking your "Facts" and you type any old
crap to make a story. Yep, you'll make an excellent American
journalist. Take a number you moron.

The following gchat between us:

me: oh

that's harsh

Travis: I'm writing him back and thanking him for pointing out the sarcastic parts of my column

me: he's not really clever, is he?

Travis' response to the email:

Hello! It is always a pleasure to hear from readers.

Thank you for pointing out two of the sarcastic parts of my column. I'm glad that you noticed them and understood the sarcasm like every single other person in the world who read my column did.

I'm also flattered that you think I'll make an excellent journalist. Thank you for wishing me all the best in my future endeavors.

Have a great holiday season!

Burrrrrrrrn. Fighting literalism with sarcasm. Not sure it's going to work.