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Quotations (And Holden Hats)

2010-03-29 · John · watch on YouTube · Books & writing · reflection essay

John says a line from An Abundance of Katherines has gone viral on Twitter stripped of its context, argues that online people are miscontextualized rather than misquoted, and suggests favorite quotations say more about the people quoting them.

What is said

00:00:00 — Greeting; tax season and the yearly absence of fishing boat proceeds; 'French the Llama!'

  • ★ At tax season John reports to the IRS, for the 32nd consecutive year, that he has no fishing boat proceeds: they are the unicorns of his tax return. (playful) — 00:00:02

00:00:18 — Googling himself; the Holden Caulfield hat appears; interruption: new book with David Levithan and ticketed tour events

00:00:38 — Not the discovery: the Bigfoot-researcher namesake John Green and his letter about John's Mental Floss article

  • ★ John recalls that after his Mental Floss article calling Bigfoot fictional, a namesake John Green, a famous Bigfoot apologist, wrote to say he was besmirching all John Greens. (playful) — 00:00:38

00:00:59 — A line from An Abundance of Katherines goes viral on Twitter; John was kidding, it is Colin Singleton's view the book refutes; lady-hat aside

  • ★★★ Googling himself, John found that a line he wrote years ago in An Abundance of Katherines has gone viral on Twitter, tweeted more than 10,000 times. — 00:01:03 · An Abundance of Katherines, Twitter
  • ★★★ John says the line ('what is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable') was meant as a joke: it is what Colin Singleton believes at the start and spends the book learning is bull. — 00:01:17 · An Abundance of Katherines

00:01:48 — Online people are miscontextualized rather than misquoted; text means nothing without context; Holden's red hunting cap as example

  • ★★★ John says that in the internet age people are not so much misquoted as miscontextualized: no line, sentence or even chapter can be understood pulled out of its book. — 00:01:48 > «instead of people being misquoted, they are miscontextualized»
  • ★★★ John says that, painful as it is in a soundbite, Twitter world, text means nothing without its context. — 00:02:00
  • ★★ As an example, John says Holden Caulfield's red hunting cap makes no sense until you know it is the same color as his dead brother's hair. — 00:02:05

00:02:15 — Favorite quotations may say more about us; ask for viewers' favorite quotes; John's is Robert Frost's

  • ★★★ John suggests our favorite quotations may say more about us than about the stories and people we quote. (hedged) — 00:02:15
  • ★★ John asks Nerdfighters to leave their favorite quote in the comments and to think about what it says about them. — 00:02:21 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ John's favorite quote of the moment is Robert Frost's 'The only way out is through'; he does not know what that says about him. — 00:02:29

Humor (significant)

  • At tax season John again reports zero fishing boat proceeds, for the 32nd consecutive year. — 00:00:12 > «Fishing boat proceeds are the unicorns of my tax return.»
  • A Bigfoot-believing namesake John Green wrote to John after his Mental Floss article called Bigfoot fictional. — 00:00:50 > «was besmirching the good name of John Greens everywhere.»
  • Right after explaining the symbolism of Holden's red cap, John points out someone wearing a hat. — 00:02:12 > «It's not a metaphor.»

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