25 Comments
Aug 1Liked by John Higgs

How about 'messing around'? Definitely active. Or pissing around for the less polite :)

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Aug 1·edited Aug 1Liked by John Higgs

Love this - I hadn't heard the term "slop" but this is something I've been thinking about, how much content there is that is thin, just doesn't need to exist and adds nothing to your life but whiles away hours. And also how, sadly, creative people are being encouraged to add to this with regular social postings even if there's nothing to say.

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Aug 3Liked by John Higgs

Thanks John. We used to knob about in Stockport.

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I can’t wait to buy the new edition. Have a good one!

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author

Thanks!

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Aug 1Liked by John Higgs

'Knobbing about' - yes, I know that phrase well (I'm a Wrexham lad you see) 😀

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author

Excellent! Teach it to Rob n' Ryan!

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Will do, the first chance I get! 😂

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Superb as always. Coincidentally SLOP is the name I give to our in-house ERP system at work (it’s called SOP and basically it’s crap).

Regards “Nobbing about” back in Brum we used to refer to it as “Dossing around” not as Carryonesque.

I can’t think of anything original for those non slop moments, but if they capture the zeitgeist then maybe “Zeits” or phonetically just Zyts! 🤓👍

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Thanks for all this John.

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Aug 1Liked by John Higgs

Insightful and inscisive stuff. Language matters. And Trump and Vance are definitely Weird.

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I feel like weird is usually a good thing. They deserve sommat a bit more dark.

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author

we need a campaign - keep weird weird!

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I think we used the phrase ‘pissing about’ or ‘fucking about’ … keep weird weird … love your posts John and sending love Xx

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author

I think it might be one of those things that can only be adequately described with the use of swear words. Big love Salena! X

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Great stuff. Just realised that I've spent most of the last week knobbing about. Hoping to spend many more weeks that way.

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author

I don't doubt it!

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‘Knobbing about” my friends and I used the term “go for a stooge”

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The Paris Olympics opening ceremony was 'ambitious and provocative, and it did France proud'. Really John? Really? You are the only person I have heard put a positive spin on that awful debacle. The progression of the Olympic games is well summed up by the state of their medals ... 1904: 100% gold. 2024: 1% gold.

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Enjoyed this as always John. I'm not sure whether this would catch on, but 'crystals' comes to mind as a word for non-slop - as in, those moments when slop crystallises into something more meaningful...

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I was working so missed the Olympics Opening live ceremony but it worked briliantly with a fast forward button. The statues of women of note in the Sorority section were really moving. Hopefully they will join the other 80-something statues of women in Paris (and the 640-odd statues of men)- as per dramaturge Thomas Jolly's plan. Like Ken and Daisy Campbell, Jolly is a fan of "endurance theatre", as Daisy calls it, known for his 24-hour Shakespeare marathon... anyway, as a response to (a massive 'Phew' and a pre-emptive F You) the far-right threat it was pretty unequivocal. To me it was heroic.

https://www.sortiraparis.com/en/news/olympic-games-paris-2024/articles/317893-opening-ceremony-statues-who-are-the-10-women-honored-on-the-seine

How about Guy Debord's concept of dérive? That involves wandering deliberately in directions unfamiliar in order to bust through the pre-meditations of capital (or something) - sort of a mixture of mooching and nobbing about with a bit of drifting thrown in...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A9rive

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Would the French “Flaner” approximate knobbing about or is the former a more aimless activity?

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author

It's close, but it's a bit more serious and self-important. The Irish phrase to go for a dander is pretty similar, I think

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to try to kill a candidate ... old news? it depends only if the writer is in payroll of the electoral committee of "madame laughing". the olympic ceremony... they do that every year but nobody of you is watching the amazing new year party on french tv... they to the same pastiche every year.... but again nobody watches... but me. it's the best thing to do the 31st watch the WEIRD paris exhibiting itself.

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