The DeLorean DMC-12 of 1981-83, he writes, had an engine "so weak it would struggle to pull a hobo off your sister." Not since Raymond Chandler have I met a metaphor so much more powerful than would do.Do you like the outlandishly-overstated-metaphor style of humor? Overused, isn't it? I tend to think people who feel a lot of pressure to be funny use it when they don't really have a humorous observation to make.
Which is not to say that Porter slings figures of speech around indiscriminately. The body of the G.M. EV1 (1996-99), he tells us, resembles "a snake trapped under a rock," and so it does. With regard to performance, Porter turns phrases the way sports cars should take corners. The Chrysler K-Car (l981-89) may have "pulled Chrysler from the depths of financial trouble," he concedes, "but did it have to be such a weedy little griefbox?" The handling of the 1974-78 Datsun B210 was "like trying to steer a wheelbarrow full of logs."
November 20, 2005
"Crap Cars" and the figures of speech they inspire.
Roy Blount Jr. reviews Richard Porter's book "Crap Cars":
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
10 comments:
I think that's being overly postmodern. Did it make you laugh or not? If it makes you laugh, it's funny. If it doesn't, it's not.
Paul: It's just a formula. You could train yourself to follow it. That is, if you actually admire that sort of writing. I can see envying it for a few minutes but then deciding it's rather tired and corny.
Ann --
I think Paul is right with his first assertion: appreciation of these phrases is a guy thing....Hmmm, I just went looking for a hoo-ha metaphor in Mickey Kaus's car-writing, which I have enjoyed, and did not find one. I thought I would. His Gearbox writing is much more interesting.
This:
"In the long run of automotive history, the Focus will be recognized as a significant advance, both in style and structure. The PT Cruiser will be the equivalent of the Chippendale pediment on Philip Johnson's AT&T Building—intriguing at the time, but soon (like most postmodern architecture) dreary and tired, an easily forgotten footnote."
Comes from this great column: http://www.slate.com/id/110541
As a guy, maybe I don't really want hobo-sister metaphors...
I think this thread is as odd as tits on a bull.
Noumenon: Very good. Yeah, Dennis Miller. He relies heavily on the device. Wonder what he's up to now.
Chandler's early stories reveal a struggle to get to the witty, cynical point he reached later. At first, his main device was to have a man burst into the room with a gun when the action flagged. I prefer the snarkiness. His mature metaphors are not "more than is needed". They just show how much can be done with smart-aleck dialogue. As Dash Hammett said, "(Chandler) wrote like a slumming angel".
OK, I'll admit: I've got as big a sophomoric streak as the next guy.
Because although I'm a girl, when it's done well I get a big kick and a laugh out of it.
Then again, as my husband would wearily and disgustedly attest, I have a weakness for extremely dumb jokes and also--HORRORS!--puns.
Shake-and-bake: In contrast, try reading certain gun magazines, especially out loud.
After a while, you'll wonder if the periodical in your hand has morphed into some sort of skin magazine.
LOL.
The style can be corny and overdone, but it can also be memorable and near perfect.
P. J. O'Rourke, in Car and Driver, described a car with acceleration
"like an antelope with a hot sour soup enema." Can't remember which car but the phrase has stuck with me.
As a car person and a literary buff, I have to resent some of the comments made, but with a tongue slightly in my cheek. Go pick up the aforementioned Road and Track, and read Peter Egan's column, "Side Glances." I guarantee that, car person or not, you will appreciate the self-knowing and -deprecating humor Egan casts, as well as learn to appreciate his interesting, compelling, and ultimately expensive hobbies.
Or just read anything from Automobile. Absolute best writing in any popular mainstream magazine, bar none. Compare it with Cosmo, Red Book, Sports Illustrated, Better Homes and Gardens, anything.
Post a Comment