Ya, Fertile Ground's in full swing, but it's not too soon to plan your post-Fest escapades. Exhibit A, as Rod Serling used to say: this video for Third Rail's upcoming extravaganza. If this doesn't get you into the theater, nothing can.
Thanks to your headline, this household is discussing the origins of the phrase, "freaks me out on acid." Robin says it is new to her. I say it seems familiar, but I can't place where I'd heard it before. A google search revealed your use of it in August 2007, in a blog post in which our mutual friend Rose Riordan figures. But you're not alone in using it. Your thoughts on the origins of this handy phrase would enlighten us.
O joy, to be asked about etymological origins! As I recall from days of yore, "freak out" had a whole range of meanings that changed, depending on context, from very positive to very negative. A garden variety "freak out" (over, say, a new Stones album)= FUN. Whereas the cardinal sin was to freak someone out who was tripping, lest their psyches dissolved like salt on a slug.
I always thought the specificity of that circumlocution -- freaking someone out on acid -- was so inadvertently funny that I began applying it to any situation where I asked someone to proceed with discretion.
And hey, now you can, too! I hope to hear the expression soon in church councils and board meetings.
4 comments:
Thanks for posting this and spreading the word, Mead! We really appreciate it!
Thanks to your headline, this household is discussing the origins of the phrase, "freaks me out on acid." Robin says it is new to her. I say it seems familiar, but I can't place where I'd heard it before. A google search revealed your use of it in August 2007, in a blog post in which our mutual friend Rose Riordan figures. But you're not alone in using it. Your thoughts on the origins of this handy phrase would enlighten us.
O joy, to be asked about etymological origins! As I recall from days of yore, "freak out" had a whole range of meanings that changed, depending on context, from very positive to very negative. A garden variety "freak out" (over, say, a new Stones album)= FUN. Whereas the cardinal sin was to freak someone out who was tripping, lest their psyches dissolved like salt on a slug.
I always thought the specificity of that circumlocution -- freaking someone out on acid -- was so inadvertently funny that I began applying it to any situation where I asked someone to proceed with discretion.
And hey, now you can, too! I hope to hear the expression soon in church councils and board meetings.
The Third Rail people have best goddamn parties.
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