Althouse: Putting the "gum" in "argument."

December 1, 2013

Putting the "gum" in "argument."

If you want to write things in gum, go here.

Signed, Your Friend,

8 comments:

Bob Boyd said...: I thought it was Squirrel Sunday.
Gum writing is all well and good, but writing with squirrels now...
And unlike most, you could even write legalese with squirrels!; 12/1/13, 9:29 AM
Anonymous said...: I Am on the pavement
Thinking About the Gummerment.; 12/1/13, 10:41 AM
Original Mike said...: Art? Really?; 12/1/13, 10:43 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: "People think your success is just a matter of having a pretty face. But it's easy to be chewed up and spat out. You've got to stay ahead of the game to be able to stay in it."
Kate Moss; 12/1/13, 10:56 AM
George M. Spencer said...: Wad ya say?; 12/1/13, 11:11 AM
Wince said...: Putting the gum in obscene gestures and courtroom argument.; 12/1/13, 11:14 AM
Anonymous said...: I'd Like to Think that Each Piece of Gum Was Chewed by an AKB48 Girl. It Seems Like Something They Would Do.; 12/1/13, 12:40 PM
Anonymous said...: Naked Bob Dylan Robot Says:

The Elasticity and Resilience of Gum Can Represent the Human Spirit, Flexible in Inflexible Times. In "Subterranean Homesick Blues" The Inflexibility of the World is Expressed Through Paranoia and Self-Confinement from such an Environment:

Look out kid
Don’t matter what you did
Walk on your tiptoes
Don’t try “No-Doz”
Better stay away from those
That carry around a fire hose
Keep a clean nose
Watch the plain clothes

In This World It Becomes Not a Matter of 'If' But, Rather, 'When':

Look out kid
You’re gonna get hit

The Solution of Resilience Through Flexibilty is Expressed in the Following Lines:

Don’t wanna be a bum
You better chew gum

As Such, Gum Can Be seen as a Form of Personal Protest Against an Overwhelming State.

In the Song "Fourth Time Around" The Dynamic of Flexibility is Expressed on a Personal Level: It is a Woman, Not the Government, That is Inflexible:

I stood there and hummed
I tapped on her drum and asked her how come
And she buttoned her boot
And straightened her suit
Then she said, “Don’t get cute”

The Narrator in the Song Uses the Symbolic Value of Gum in an Attempt to Achieve a Breakthrough Against this Wall:

So I forced my hands in my pockets
And felt with my thumbs
And gallantly handed her
My very last piece of gum

However, His Offering of the Gum is Spiritually Rejected By Her Unwillingness to Share in Response:

Her Jamaican rum
And when she did come, I asked her for some
She said, “No, dear”

To Further Underscore Her Rejection of His Elasticity She Blames Gum as an Impediment to Flexibility through Understanding:

I said, “Your words aren’t clear
You’d better spit out your gum”

Thus, Gum is Brought Back to a Personal Statement Independent of the World on a Personal and Governmental Level, and -- Indeed -- Independent of Success or Failure.

Note that the Gum is Never Identified as 'Bubble Gum': the Reasoning Here Would Be Subject to Greater Scrutiny.; 12/1/13, 1:03 PM