Language Play of the Week

Every now and then I read something - a phrase, a turn of thought, and I think, "wow, Writer Dude, you just nailed that". OK, I realize that my last sentence wasn't exactly an example of the kind of effective writing I'm talking about, but you get my point. Here's the second in what is thus far an intermittent feature in Mad Padre.

This week's language play has been around for a while now. It's from a David Sedaris piece in the August 9th issue of The New Yorker magazine, which I'm still nibbling at, entitled "Standing By: Fear, Loathing, Flying". An abstract of the piece is here (go ahead, treat yourself to a digital subscription while you're there).

Here's the sentence, a gorgeously over the top simile to defend the argument that the author's fellow Americans can be slovenly and unpleasant people to spend time on an airplane with.

"I should be used to the way Americans dress when travelling, yet it still manages to amaze me. It's as if the person next to you had been washing shoe polish off a pig, then suddenly threw down his sponge, saying, "F**k this, I'm going to Los Angeles".

If you google the phrase you'll find other fans of it.