George Carlin - Thank you for a lifetime of laughter.

[Graybeard]

I just listened to Carlin's Back In Town album again. Tears are still rolling down my cheeks from laughing.

Nobody has ever,ever,ever in my lifetime made me laugh so much as George Carlin. I really miss him.

[BrendaBrick]

1. I miss him too!

I also miss Bill Hicks.

[Graybeard]

2. Welcome to DU.

:hi: :fistbump:

[BrendaBrick]

4. Thanks!

[pokerfan]

3. Me too

I was fortunate to see him live on three different occasions... I've got all his albums since FM & AM and seen all his HBO specials.

Carlin breaks down the Ten Commandments:

But let me ask you something: When these guys were sittin' around the tent makin' all this up, why did they pick ten? Why ten? Why not nine, or eleven? I'll tell you why. Because ten sounds important. Ten sounds official. They knew if they tried eleven, people wouldn't take them seriously. People would say, "What're you kiddin' me? The Eleven Commandments? Get the fuck outta here!" But ten! Ten sounds important. Ten is the basis for the decimal system; it's a decade. It's a psychologically satisfying number: the top ten; the ten most wanted; the ten best-dressed. So deciding on Ten Commandments was clearly a marketing decision. And it's obviously a bullshit list. In truth, it's a politic; document, artificially inflated to sell better.

I'm going to show you how you can reduce the number of commandments and come up with a list that's a bit more logical and realistic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzEs2nj7iZM

[BrendaBrick]

5. yeah, I remember that bit

Wow, how fortunate for you to see him live! I seem to rememeber a bit he did about age. About how you *strive* for this age, then you *reach* for that age...something along those lines was pretty funny.

Also another bit he did about the cultural dilution/minimization of certain phrases regarding the horrible, psychological aftermath of war for veterans. How at first after WWII, it was called exactly what it was: "Shell shock." Then later, something else a bit milder, after that - a bit milder and *clinical* still....

I love how he was such a consummate *wordie* and brought to our attention the ways in which the (deliberate?) morphing of language and certain popular catch-phrases of the day were/are indirectly responsible for the mentality to decribe/veer from *reality* in such a way as to try and obscure the inconvenient truth of what REALLY goes down!!!

[pokerfan]

6. shell shock -> battle fatigue -> operational exhaustion -> post-traumatic stress disorder

You can listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNk_kzQCclo

"I don't like words that hide the truth. I don't like words that conceal reality. I don't like euphemisms, or euphemistic language. And American English is loaded with euphemisms."

He was obviously in love with language. When he passed away, it was frustrating to see him remembered mostly for his seven "bad" words because he was far more than just those seven words.

[Rhiannon12866]

8. Great post! Thanks!

George Carlin had an amazing way of pointing out the absurdities of life and he could always make me LOL... :rofl: :hi:

[gristy]

7. I am almost done with Carlin's "sortabiography", "Last Words"

I've just about finished it in 2 days. It is a wonderful, wonderful book. Fascinating. Wonderfully written. The man could write.

We miss you, George.