Saturday, August 20, 2011

tripping the light fantastic

Perhaps this is a bit of a cheat, and I certainly am  not  planning to send you to my Finnegans Wake blog many times in the future. But this week I found myself looking into some things that could equally have appeared here. If you'd like to see how badly wrong I was on the phrase 'tripping the light fantastic' (a general knowledge of superiority to me being I assume one of the pleasures of reading this blog), you can go HERE, and skip, or shall I say trip, right along to the last couple of paragraphs.

Or not.
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17 comments:

  1. Peter RozovskyAugust 20, 2011 at 9:06 PM

    I have always liked "tripping the light fantastic" without, however, having even the vaguest idea of its origin or even venturing a guess. And now, let me click that link and see what I can find out.

    V-word: uppites, which sounds like a cantakerous Middle Eastern people from biblical times.
    ======================
    Detectives Beyond Borders
    "Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
    http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/

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  2. Peter RozovskyAugust 20, 2011 at 9:13 PM

    Blogger will not let me post on your other blog for some reason (just another example of the service that has driven so many bloggers to investigate Wordpress), so I'll post a reply here:

    That seminal Australian crime writer Arthur W. Upfield wrote a novel called The Bachelors of Broken Hill, should you decide to pursue that bit of your inquiry.
    ======================
    Detectives Beyond Borders
    "Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
    http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  3. seana grahamAugust 20, 2011 at 9:32 PM

    Hey, thanks for checking it out, and I will see if I have some weird default problem going on there.

    I haven't read Upfield, but I remember that title. Thanks for making the connection between the two, as I wouldn't have thought of it.

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  4. seana grahamAugust 20, 2011 at 9:40 PM

    I just changed the settings from embedded comments to full page comments on the advice of one of the forums, so perhaps that will help. It doesn't get much traffic, frankly, so I am not sure if I will ever know, but we'll see.

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  5. Peter RozovskyAugust 20, 2011 at 9:41 PM

    Perhaps you inadvertently set the Finnegan's Wake blog to allow comments only from group members?

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  6. Peter RozovskyAugust 20, 2011 at 9:41 PM

    Well, let's go see right now.

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  7. Tales from the Birch Wood.August 21, 2011 at 3:06 PM

    Nice post, as usual.

    I always associate the phrase with dance.

    Found a very well designed art blog you might like, Seana.

    kenconleys.blogspot.com

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  8. seana grahamAugust 21, 2011 at 3:27 PM

    Thanks, Maria. That blog looks great.

    When you have this whole mental image of a Broadway musical with people dancing before the footlights, to trip lightly is somehow a bit disappointing.

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  9. Peter RozovskyAugust 21, 2011 at 5:53 PM

    I'd sometimes pictures dancers tripping -- stumbling and falling, that is. That humorous possibility may have helped endear the expression to me.

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  10. seana grahamAugust 21, 2011 at 7:51 PM

    Yes, I think there has to be at least an echo of stumbling in the word when we read it.

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  11. Peter RozovskyAugust 21, 2011 at 9:44 PM

    Mmm, imagine this expression, then concoct a situation to fit: "Tripping over the light fantastic."

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  12. seana grahamAugust 21, 2011 at 9:57 PM

    All I can think is, 'Well, that would be me.'

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  13. Peter RozovskyAugust 21, 2011 at 10:25 PM

    Hmm, maybe I'll make a flash-fiction challenge out of this.

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  14. seana grahamAugust 21, 2011 at 11:03 PM

    It wouldn't be a bad idea.

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  15. Peter RozovskyAugust 21, 2011 at 11:41 PM

    We could co-host it.

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  16. seana grahamAugust 21, 2011 at 11:49 PM

    If you have a thought about how to go about it, yes, I'd do it.

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  17. Peter RozovskyAugust 22, 2011 at 12:01 AM

    I'll get on it in the morning. This could be fun.

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