I feel like the guy that Ken Camp motions to in a crowded room and says to his buddies, “Watch this, I’m going to get Emmett all riled up.” Then he walks up to me, says something, and steps back and smiles as I start yelling at random people.
See, Ken is the one that keeps on emailing me stories like this one.
And, this one, which is really funny:
See! You get it? We’re so vain down here that not only do we own machinery to kill trees, but we put a vanity plate on it!
Not that I mind entertaining Ken, he’s a great guy for a Trojan. I’m just saying, that if you’re wondering why I keep harping on this, its because Ken hands me ammo.
Ken would also like to have his own metonymy battle to wage, but people only use Tumwater rarely when they are referring to any collection of office buildings and bad roads.
And, back to that first column up top, it really isn’t all that bad. Mostly the headline sucks, and I doubt the author had anything to do with writing that. The last paragraph actually dances around the metonymy of Olympia nicely, while using some very colorful language:
What’s gone on in Olympia is the deliberate infliction of misery on small, helpless people, powerless to object — Hank, Dave, Gretchen, Stephen and Mike don’t vote, nor do they contribute to re-election campaigns. With no toadies in Olympia, they got the shaft.
“Toadies in Olympia.” Now that is sweet.
For some reason, these rants about metonymy make me think of Don Quixote. I can’t imagine why, though.
And, despite the meaninglessness nature of Don Quixote’s adventure, he is still entertaining.
You’re right….there’s no metonymic battle to fight in Tumwater and I do enjoy your rants.
Could you tell Olympia to get its name off of our beer? After all, the brewery is in Tumwater, even if the brew is now made in Wisconsin.