DULL OR BORING?
I am a member of the British-based Dull Men's Club (DMC) – which also includes women, and, indeed, claims to have 35,000 + members worldwide. (membership@dullmensclub.com)
The DMC's “mission statement” is to 'celebrate the ordinary... the life-changing magic, of simple, everyday, run-of-the-mill things'. (www.dullmensclub.com)
It's current Blogs include:
Car Parks
Telegraph Pole Appreciation Society
Manhole Covers
Wet Floor Signs
Drainspotters
Post WW2 prefab houses
(forthcoming: a blog by yours truly on French shutters)
One of the current Blogs features a British postcard collector who reckons that he has well over a million postcards amassed over 50 years, He admits “..I’m obsessive at times. Last year in Berlin I picked up 114 postcards of the old Berlin Television Tower, the tallest structure in Germany, third tallest in the EU. It was constructed in 1965 by the German Democratic Republic.”
Which makes my, our, and Martin Parr's collection of Boring Postcards look pretty meager
One of the DMC's FAQ's (too many acronyms here!) asks:
“8. Are dull men the same as boring men?
“Yes and no. Boring men are dull men. But not all dull men are boring men. Boring men are dull men who don’t know when to stop; they go on and on and on. ”.
This dull/boring distinction led me to consult a book that I have been carrying around for 50+ years: The Nuttall Dictionary of English Synonyms and Antonyms. (No doubt the 'Net will have zillions of other sources, but I will stick to my Old Favourite.)
“Dull: Tiresome, boring, dry, uninteresting, barren, jejeune, fatiguing, tame, vapid, meagre, plain, dreary.
“Bore [but not 'boring']: Tire, weary, fatigue, vex, annoy, worry.”
So, and in conclusion, are our Postcards Dull and/or Boring? And, as I have argued from Day 1, do our Dull and/or Boring Postcards at some stage become Interesting Postcards?
Tags:
Anyway, "they paved paradise and put up a parking lot".
Dear Ms Nikolltsou, Your project for this week is to write a 500-word essay on 'The difference between 'car parks' and 'parking lots', including quotes from Dickens' 'Tale of Two Cities', 'The Iliad' and Shakespeare's 'Coriolanus. You may include no more than 2 photos and one illustration in your essay. The deadline for the submission of this project is 1 October.
Is this like "postman" and "mailman"?
..not like "boot" and "boot"? ..."trunk" and "trunk"?
Dear Ms Nikoltsou,
Please do not use sexist terms like 'postman' and 'mailman'*.
I refer you to the fact that New York legally recognises 31 different 'gender identities', and insist that you be more precise in your usage of such identities.
Sincerely,
VM Herman*
****AAAAGH!!
HERman is, of course sexist/genderist!
As is HerMAN!
Following the NY guidelines, I should now be addressed as as 'VM Person of Transgender Experience'
Thank you and good night
Dear Ms Nikoltsou, Your next project -- due 3 October -- is about the differences between British and American language in the motor trade. Please answer the following questions -- you will need to get at least 7 of them right before you can pass to the next level.
Q1. What, if any, is the difference between a 'car' and an 'automobile'?
Q2. What, if any, is the difference between a 'car park' and a 'parking lot'?
Q3. Can only cars be parked in car parks and can anything (dinosaurs, trains, etc) be parked in parking lots?
Q4. Without making references to elephants, what is the difference between a car's 'boot' and it's trunk'?
Q5. What, if any, is the difference between a car's 'bonnet' and it's 'hood'?
Q6. if an American gangster, wearing a pullover with a sort of head cover, is found shot dead in a car, is this a hooded hood, illed with a hood, and dumped in a hood?
Seems to me that the Dull Men's Club gives certificates only to dull MEN...
as women are never dull :-)
Thanks Katerina,
I read the Dull Men Book last night, and 3 +1 things about the Dull Mens' wives struck me:
i) the wives actively support their husbands in their dullness
ii) the wives put up with their husbands' eccentricities
iii) they get divorced.
The +1 is that some of the Dull Men don't have wives or partners which, when you come to think about it, is not all that suprising.
Fantastic Katerina!
You pass.
With an A+ !
Want to support the IUOMA with a financial gift via PayPal?
The money will be used to keep the IUOMA-platform alive. Current donations keep platform online till 1-september-2025. If you want to donate to get IUOMA-publications into archives and museums please mention this with your donation. It will then be used to send some hardcopy books into museums and archives. You can order books yourself too at the IUOMA-Bookshop. That will sponsor the IUOMA as well.
IMPORTANT: please use the friends/family option with donation on Paypal. That makes transaction fee the lowest.
This IUOMA platform on NING has no advertisings, so the funding is completely depending on donationsby members. Access remains free for everybody off course
Bewaren
Bewaren
Bewaren
Bewaren
Bewaren
Bewaren
Bewaren
Bewaren
Bewaren
http://www.iuoma.org
IUOMA on Facebook
http://www.mail-art.de
http://www.mailart.be
Mail-Art on Wikipedia
Bookstore IUOMA
www.fluxus.org
Drawings Ruud Janssen
Mail Art Blog by Jayne
Fluxlist Europe
Privacy Revolution
fluxlist.blogspot.com/
TAM Rubberstamp Archive
MAIL-ART Projects
mail art addresses
Artistampworld
panmodern.com
MIMA-Italy
artistampmuseum
Papersizes Info
IUOMA Logo's
Mail Artists Index
Mailart Adressen
Maries Mailbox Blog
http://mailartarchive.com/
Mail-Interviews
http://www.crosses.net/
Ryosuke Cohen
http://heebeejeebeeland.blogspot.nl/
Your link here? Send me a message.
© 2024 Created by Ruud Janssen. Powered by