Monkey's Dad's definitions

Amerarcana

A future word describing indecipherable objects: mysterious red-white-and-blue cloth, tattered paperback copies of the Constitution, Barbie dolls, portraits of Thomas Jefferson, carved Philadelphia chairs, dog licenses, coins, photos of things called World Trade Center and Golden Gate Bridge. They will be rumored to have come from a lost civilization, but one few people can believe ever existed.

'Another piece of Amerarcana?' he wondered, as he brushed the mud off the strange, almost perfectly round object, circled by small red lines and weird black marks which were shaped like 'M-a-j-o-r -L-e-a-g-u-e' and might once have meant something, although no one could say.

by Monkey's Dad February 14, 2020

Chauvinism

Committing murder in broad daylight.

Named for Derek Chauvin, former Minneapolis police officer who killed George Floyd on May 25, 2020.

Derek Chauvin, in a brazen act of Chauvinism, knelt on George Floyd's neck for nearly nine and a half minutes while Floyd struggled to live, repeatedly gasping I can't breathe, until he died. Chauvin did so in public, as Darnella Frazier, a seventeen-year-old girl, recorded an unflinching video of the episode. Her video went viral, resulting in massive social unrest across America and was the pivotal piece of evidence in securing Chauvin's conviction for murder. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison.

by Monkey's Dad July 11, 2021

Who Cooks for You?

Song of the Barred Owl, by consensus of the ornithological community. Who Cooks for You? Who Cooks for Yooooou-All?, in two groups of four.

The owls were singing to each other, high in the spruce trees, and it always made them smile. Who Cooks for You? Who-Cooks-for-Yooooo-All? One night, they went outside with his guitar and he played it back to them.

by Monkey's Dad March 22, 2023

becoming real

Moving from a general concept to the inescapably specific.

Seeing a face he knew on the front page of The Times, the first nurse in New York to die of the virus, it was becoming real, no longer a statistic, and other faces would follow.

by Monkey's Dad March 27, 2020

op-ed calumnist

An editorial writer engaged in calumny - peddling false and malicious statements about someone, with the intent to inflict damage.

Under a tight deadline, needing a really juicy bit of character assassination, the op-ed calumnist linked Biden to Pizzagate.

by Monkey's Dad October 1, 2020

the city that never stirs

New York in the grip of the pandemic

Silent and empty, The City That Never Sleeps had swiftly become The City That Never Stirs.

by Monkey's Dad March 22, 2020

catch-and-kill

To buy the rights, or otherwise pay, to prevent a news story from being published. The title of Ronan Farrow's new book on the subject.

American Media Inc., allegedly engaged in catch-and-kill to control negative stories about Donald Trump's involvement with porn star Stormy Daniels. Similarly, Republican members of The Bohemian Grove paid to prevent release of the 1981 film "Star Spangled Boner" starring John Holmes as Ronald Reagan.

by Monkey's Dad March 30, 2020