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10B - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, November 4, 2004
The Michigan Dai
. ... .... ... ... ...) ... .. . .J .. ....... . _
word. with Dan Mullkoff
WHAT DID I JUST GET GOT?
The Rant: Hang on, snoopy
his is the true story
of how conservatives
punk'd a nation," reads
the back of Thomas Frank's book
"What's the Matter With Kansas?"
Tongue-in-cheek as its usage may
often be, punk'd has escaped the
bounds of MTV and entered our
collective vocabulary.
This current usage as a verb indi-
cates that a person has been deceived,
often by jack-assed trickery from
the likes of Ashton Kutcher. The
victim may not realize a punk'ng
is amidst until afterwards, when
the punk'r (as distinguished from a
punker, 'a fan of punk music') clues
him in with an announcement of the
I
catchphrase "you got punk'd!"
The word punk has a long history
with dozens of meanings, usually
as a noun or an adjective. English
speakers have used punk as a verb
in a few ways: to punk meaning
'procure customers for a prostitute'
(derived from the first meaning of
punk, 'a prostitute') in 16th century
England, and to punk out, meaning
'back out,' in the U.S. beginning in
the 1920s.
But Mr. Kutcher's usage as a
transitive verb probably derives
from the American-based adjecti-
val meaning, 'devoid of worth or
sense; poor in quality,' dating to
the late 19th century. This meaning
also provided the basis for the term
punk rock, coined by Creem Mag-
azine's Dave Marsh in 1971 while
referencing Rudy Martinez (a.k.a.
Question Mark) of the band ? and
the Mysterians, of "96 Tears" fame
(and whom I highly recommend).
In saying the passive phrase,
"You got punk'd!" the punk'r
places himself in the role of an
outside observer in order to empha-
size that the person, in short, got
punk'd. Using the passive construc-
tion instead of the active "I punk'd
you!" puts focus on the victim, and
suggests that third-party observers
would have the same reaction to the
punk'ng.
I should note that passive call-
outs are nothing unique to punk'rs.
Unwitting people can get dissed,
schooled, burned, ho'd, shown up,
etc. And, if the conditions are just
right, and the stars so aligned, they
just might find themselves on the
receiving end of a serve.
As the two utterances of the
titular line in the film "You Got
Served" exemplify, getting served
suggests being demonstrably out-
performed at a given task. To
serve has meant 'to play a trick on
someone' since the late 16th centu-
ry, though in this sense it has most
often been used as to serve a turn,
and is rarely heard nowadays. This
meaning better fits the connota-
tions of getting punk'd, as trickery
is a key component.
A closer fit and a possible ori-
gin for the current sense of getting
served is an Australian slang verb
phrase dating to the 1970s: to give
a serve, meaning 'to reprimand
sharply.'
Speakers today usually use
punk'd and served with the verb
"to get" instead of the "to be" more
common to formal passive construc-
tions (e.g., "you were punk'd!").
According to English Prof. Anne
Curzan, "Passives such as 'you got
served' are often viewed as collo-
quial and perhaps too informal or
somehow improper (even though
history shows that Jane Austen and
Charles Dickens used them). It's
possible, though, that passives can
mean something slightly different
from passives with 'to be,' which is
why they can be useful: They can
emphasize process, they can be
emphatic, or they can suggest that
the subject is in part responsible for
what happened ('she got fired')."
In the case of served, changing the
verb alters the meaning, from the
traditional definition 'have a ser-
vice done for' to the more slang
'be outperformed.' Had the Brit-
ish department-store comedy "Are
You Being Served?" routinely
featured plot-lines involving, say,
Mr. Humphries out-break-dancing
Capt. Peacock, perhaps "Are You
Getting Served?" would have been
an appropriate title.
Unlike a punk'ng, which is
decided by the punk'r, exactly who
got served can be decided by a
third party, such as the large audi-
ences at the aforementioned film's
climatic dance-offs. Whereas the
use of the passive voice in "you
got punk'd!" merely seeks to place
the punk'r in the role of an outside
observer, the passive voice of "you
got served!" can reiterate the deci-
sion of a present third party, insur-
ing that the victim understands he
got served.
Another distinction involves the
element of surprise: a serve vic-
tim realizes he is a candidate to
get served throughout the battle; a
person who has been punk'd does
not see it coming until the startling
moment of revelation. There is also
a level of seriousness unique to a
serve.
There may be great animosity
between the one getting served and
the one doing the serving. Follow-
ing a punk'ng, on the other hand,
the punk'r and the victim are most
often on good terms, realizing it
was all in good fun. When local
resident Will Travers's television
failed to work one day, he perhaps
inadvertently highlighted the dif-
ference between the two terms.
Fearing the damage was perma-
nent, he lamented, "Man, I hope we
got punk'd, but I'm pretty sure we
got served."
Of note: In my Sept. 23 "Suf-
fixgate" column, I defined -crat as
'a supporter of a specified form of
government.' Thanks to Rackham
student Aristotelis Babajimopoulos
for clarifying the relevant ancient
Greek root word, which is kratein,
'to be strong; to rule.' The English
words democracy and democrat, as
well as similar constructions, were
derived from French. The French
word dimocrate ('democrat')
was back-formed from the French
dmocratie ('democracy'), which
was derived from ancient Greek.
So, by way of the French, we use
the suffix -crat to complement the
Greek-based suffix -cracy.
Dan also spends a lot of time
wondering what "word up" actu-
ally means. If you have any
ideas, feel free to e-mail him at
mullkoff@umich.edu.
By Marshall W. Lee
Daily Arts Writer
When I heard through the grapevine
that my rotund, flaxen-haired neighbor
Mathilda was leaving Ann Arbor for a
Peace Corps assignment in some drab
and desolate third-world nation - let's
say Tajikistan or, I don't know, Poland
- my first thought was Bleah, gross,
because I was eating something with
coconut in it and I hate coconut. But
my second thought was Selfish ingrate
bitch! After all that we've been through
together!
OK, OK, so her and I have never
actually, technically met. And yeah,
I'm relatively certain that my aesthetic
sensibilities would automatically refuse
association with someone who wears
copper bracelets and subscribes to
Oprah Magazine. But over the course
of our short time together Mathilda and
I have managed to transcend the trite
social formalities of acquaintance and
communication, and to forge an expres-
sive, significant bond rooted in deeper,
dare I say sacred ground: We are both
really fucking nosy. You see, I was
first introduced to the mystery that is
Mathilda one August afternoon when I
returned from Meijer just in time to see
a vaguely familiar, rounded silhouette
shuffling sneakily away from my open
mailbox and up the front steps next
door. Rummaging through my personal
correspondence! Well that's a federal
offense, so what else could I possibly
do but wait until dusk to go investi-
gate the inside of her Plymouth with
a flashlight (select highlights include:
8 empty packs of American Spirits, a
Neil Diamond Best of cassette, and a
dog-eared glossy pamphlet entitled "Is
Satan in You?").
And things only escalated from
here. Sideways glances and informal
recon gave way to full on snooping; I
don't know what Mathilda's excuse is,
but frankly I just can't help it. Sure,
I have a dazzling life of my own; in
fact my everyday is a non-stop action
spectacle filled with trials, tribulations
and partial nudity, but the truth is that
I've just never been able to keep my
nose out of other people's business.
The fault lies entirely with Duracell.
When I was just a wee youngster, after
the dimming double-As in my Walk-
man reduced Kriss-Kross's masterful
flow to a sputtering hum, I made a
life-altering discovery. Did you know
that perfect strangers, well within
earshot, will unabashedly share their
most private and intimate conversa-
tions with just about anyone wearing
headphones and nodding rhythmically
at the ground? I didn't, and my life has
never quite been the same. But all the
eighth-grade locker probes, and all
the neck-craning efforts to glimpse
O.P.T.M. (Other Peoples Text Messa
es, as if you didn't know), were mere
cross-training for my epic battle wi
Mathilda.
And now, after all this time, th
ungrateful Heidi-wannabe is just goin
to pack up and leave me? I'm outrage
I'm insulted! I'm, well, relieved. To te
you the honest truth, Mathilda, I'
been feeling restless and a bit bored.
didn't know how to break it to you, b
lately I've found your antics to be hal
hearted and jejune. I mean c'mon, roo
ing through our trash bins dressed <
a bum - let's face it, the spark is gon
Don't get me wrong, I am thankful fe
the time that we've had together, but
think we both saw this coming. Don
worry kiddo, you'll find someone nev
someone exciting who undresses wi
the blinds open or gets unmarked pac
ages from Katmandu; someone real
great. So thanks for the memorie
Mathilda, good luck and Godspeed.
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Daily Arts MiX Tape ©"IS " REDUCTION
UU DATE/TINE
-NOISE REDUCTION
Old America
New America
1. Brown-Eyed Handsome
Man - Chuck Berry
2. Mustang Sally - Wilson
Pickett
3. The Night They Drove
Old Dixie Down - The Banc
4. (Sittin' On) ) The Dock
of the Bay - Otis Redding
5. Feel Flows - The Beach
Boys
6. Cinnamon Girl - Neil
7. Folsom Prison Blues
- Johnny Cash
8. I Just Want to Make
Love to You - Etta James
9. My Back Pages - Bob
bylan
10. Lodi - Creedence
Clearwater Revival
11 One Bourbon, One
Scotch, One Beer - John
Lee Hooker
12. bark Was The Night
- Blind Willie Johnson
id
3
1. When the Lights Go Out
- The Black Keys
2. New Drink for the Old
Drunk - Crooked Fingers
d 3. Michigan Girls - Calif one
4. Just Be Simple - Songs:
Ohia
5. Outfit - The Drive-By
Truckers
6. Whatever - Masta Killa
7. Sex, Love and Money
- Mos Def.
8. Holland, 1945 - Neutral
Milk Hotel
9. Good Woman - Cat Power
10. Wild Pack of Family
Dogs - Modest Mouse
11. Get By - Talib Kweli
12. Forever - Circulatory
System
Two weeks ago, esteemed music
staffer Matt Kivel printed a mix-
tape, half of which was comprisec
of British bands, the other half
American. The problem? Matt's
name was erroneously left off of
his mix, which was printed beside
no fewer than two pictures of
myself. So with all due respect, this
week I present my mix: A contrast
of the old stalwarts of Americar
music versus the up-and-comers.
Some of the choices are obvious:
You've probably heard of Chucl<
Berry, Neil Young and Johnny Cash,
The point, however, isn't obscurity
but comparison: As great as Bob
Dylan's "My Back Pages" is, it's
nearly as entertaining to hear Cali-
fone deconstruct it on "Michigar
Girls." Not all the songs have direci
analogs, but the message should be
clear: America's rich music tradi-
tion is being re-imagined by a legior
of young upstarts, and their work is
as transcendent and indicative of
the American experience as their
forbears'. - Andrew M. Gaerig
Total time: 79.51
NELP
New England Literature Program
y
Mass Meeting& Slide Show
Thursday, November 11
7:00 p.m. Aud. A, Angell Hall
SPRING TERM IN NEW ENGLAND! Earn 8 Credits
Read, write, and canoe in the Maine woods.
Hike in New Hampshire's mountains. Visit Maine's seacoast.
Literature, Art, Music, Nature Study.
(It's not just for English majors!)
For information call Jackie Livesay (734) 764-9505 or see "NELP": http://www.sa.umich.edu/eng
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