Maurice Marsac

            On Monday morning it felt like I was coming down with a cold. I was run down and my eyes were itchy. But the symptoms went away as the day progressed. 

            I memorized the sixth verse of "Rupture au miroir" (Crack in the Mirror) by Serge Gainsbourg. There's just one verse left and so I should have the song nailed down tomorrow. 

            I weighed 84.5 kilos before breakfast. 

            I left for my last two-hour English in the World class at the Sidney Smith Building. Outside of our classroom Tiana was wearing platform, knee-length pink boots decorated with spirals of pink faux fur. I told her they were very beautiful and that whenever I see her she reminds me of the song "She's a Rainbow" by The Rolling Stones. 

            Professor Percy asked, "Do I have blood on my face?" because her cat nipped her this morning. I told her that I think it's safe to say that she is the first professor to ever ask her students, "Do I have blood on my face?" 

            I told her that it says "Late" beside all of my exit slips but she said not to worry about it. She had originally placed the deadline at 14:00 and the program still thinks that's what it is but we actually have all day. 

            The MC for the first panel of presenters was Tiana. 

            The general theme was English in pop culture. 

            Diana's presentation was on K-pop. 

            The groups' images and use of English is geared towards sales and international parasocial relations. English is sometimes used in songs. Besides their native Korea some are appealing to the North American and others to the Japanese market. The catchiest parts of the songs, such as the choruses often have English lyrics. 

            The lyrics are meant to establish and maintain the simulation of a caring emotional bond with their fan base. They are chasing the listener and sing in English that they can't live without the listener. 

            I asked if they use any hybrid Korean-English words. She said they don't but there is code-switching in some lines of songs. 

            I found out that Korean songs with more than a third of English lyrics were banned in Korea until 1996. I read also that English song titles in K-Pop songs tend to only use one or two words and are often punctuated with exclamation marks. Someone online says that Kara’s lyric "Jumpin’ up” is an abbreviation of both English phrases jumping in and jumping up. If that is the intention, although it isn't hybrid, it is a use of English that probably wouldn't occur in an English pop song. I don't think it was mentioned that English in K-Pop lyrics is called "Engrish" by the fans, but it also applies to non-standard English speaking in Asia in general. Apparently the term K-Pop was coined in Japan to distinguish it from J-Pop. Repetitions of "oh", "go" and "yeah" somewhat parallel French "Ye Ye" songs of the 1960s which were inspired by the pop cultural British Invasion fronted by The Beatles, who of course famously repeated "yeah, yeah, yeah" and changed the world. 

            Xinyu's presentation was on the K-Pop group "Stray Kids". 

            English as lingua franca. 

            K-Pop was not a spontaneous idea. 

            English training is required for group members. There are English and Korean song titles and sometimes full English versions. English is used for repeated word phrases in K-Pop. 

            I think their song "Maniac" and the repetitions of that word may be inspired by the Michael Sembello song "Maniac" which was the theme from Flashdance in 1983. 

            Another presentation was on "Oppa" as a loanword on K-pop Twitter. "Oppa" traditionally addresses older men respectfully. It is used as a loanword by English fans, especially female fans to mean "cute". It is also ironically used by people mocking the delusional crushes of those fans. She asks Elon Musk not to ruin Twitter. 

            I say that it is a weird coincidence that "opa", which is pronounced the same was as "oppa" means grandfather in German. If "oppa" is being used to refer to older men one is attracted to, then it would be the equivalent of the English slang usage of "daddy". 

            Mary Hoover presented on the domination of English pop by BTS. Recently they have written some songs in full English. But are they truly BTS in English? Their music is outside the box with lyrics about mental health and not fitting in. RM is fluent in English and self taught. They only won Grammy awards for English songs "Dynamite" and "Butter". They divide their appeal between Korean culture and international fans. 

            Tiana's presentation was on Starfire of The Teen Titans. 

            She said she tried to match her clothes with Starfire. 

            Tiana's focus is on the version of Starfire in the animated series. The comic book version came out in 1980 as did Phoenix in the X-Men and they had a similar look as well as similar powers, except that Phoenix is potentially extremely powerful to a planet shattering degree. 

            Starfire is Tamaranean.  Her powers are flight, super strength and star bolts. She is caring and romantically interested in Robin. 

            She uses figurative language. Fandom.com says that she speaks without contractions and misuses idioms such as when she says, "kick the butt" and "the mall for shopping" and "lobstery" instead of "crabby." 

            Her powers are fueled by expressive emotions. She must express while Raven must suppress. Raven must use minimal words. 

            Starfire speaks English after kissing Robin because it is a transfer of knowledge. Her sister Blackfire also flirts with Robin. 

            I ask if Robin is Dick Grayson in this universe and she says he is. 

            For Starfire a poem of gratitude has 6000 verses. 

            I ask the three who focused on K-Pop if there are any English words they use that don't mean the same in English. One said "fighting" is one that the fans use, which means "go for it!" 

            K-Pop is influenced by The Backstreet Boys. 

            K-Pop plays a big ambassadorial role. 

            Asians get stereotyped as submissive. 

            We took a break and I chatted with Tiana about the Teen Titans. I said that I had the original comics from the mid 1960s, which only had Robin, Wondergirl, Speedy, and Kid Flash. I asked her, "If Robin is Dick Grayson, who is Nightwing? She told me that Nightwing is Dick in the future. 

            Megan was the MC for group six. 

            She presented on the "ussy" suffix, derived from "pussy". Placed on the end of any noun. "Ussifying", "ussification". Sexualizing a noun to make it unsettling. "ussy" has been used since the 1980s It is a dead meme because she is presenting on it. "Dafussy" is from Willem Dafoe. "ussy" is a contranym as two meanings contradict each other. It is always gross. It is read more often than spoken.

            Iman wrote on tone indicators. Symbols to indicate tone. #j for joke. emojis and acronyms like SMH for shake my head It is its own branch of virtual slang. I imagine a funny skit in which Shakespeare explains the mood of his characters' lines with emojis and puts "LOL" at the end of every joke. 

            Faith presented on language and communication on TikTok. It is too easy to scroll. It brings people together. Slang on TikTok is taken to a new level. 

            She pronounces Gen Z as "Gen Zee". I wonder if a lot of Canadians do that. 

            "Shadow banned" is a TikTok phrase; PFP means profile picture. 

            TikTok is used for language learning without pressure of abundant information. Laura also presented on TikTok, focusing on the language of euphemisms. 

            It started in 2016 and now has one billion users. 

            It has specific vocabulary. Profane language is taken down but it is tricked with acronyms and symbols. "Seggs" for sex, "Accountant" for sex worker, "Sue Decide" for suicide,  "Le Dollar Bean" for lesbian,  "Unalive" for suicide. It censors LGBTQ words. 

            Frida presented on the language of the Manosphere. Global cyber community that rose as a reaction to feminism. Incels. Women are superficial and only have sex with alpha males. 

            Incel lexicon: femoid, Chad is the ideal alpha, Stacy is the ideal woman, Becky is inferior to Stacy, Beta Bucks must debase themselves by paying for sex, soyboy is a feminist man. They also use Matrix terms. 

            I said that I've been called a soy boy by a right-wing woman. I suggest that it may be less a movement than mentally ill people finding community and needing help. 

            Alexandra presented on language and the pandemic. I recognized her presentation as an essay that I peer reviewed. How covid is changing English with names like antivaxxer. Neologisms are new words. WFH is the return to an old phrase. Social network first started in 1973. "Rona" for corona.

            I weighed 84.2 kilos before lunch at 13:50. 

            I weighed 84.9 kilos at 16:15, but immediately after that I had a bowel movement and weighed in at 84.8 kilos. Either way it's the heaviest I've been at that time in a week, but on Monday afternoons the situation is unique lately because I don't take a bike ride after my siesta, having already ridden downtown and back between breakfast and lunch. 

            I worked on editing my lecture notes and then went online to write the exit slip survey for today's class. I finished at 23:45, fifteen minutes before the deadline. 

            I cut a whole chicken into seven parts and roasted them in the oven. I had a leg with a potato and gravy while watching season 2, episode 30 of The Beverly Hillbillies. 

            This is a continuation of the previous story in which Jed has acquired an upscale dress shop called The House of Renée. Now Renée has gone back to Paris and Granny is taking over. Granny gets the whole family up before sunrise, even though Beverly Hills dress shops don't open before 11:00. 

            Jed and Jethro go downtown to open up the store but when they get there they realize that they've never been given keys. Jed has just started picking the lock when a cop walks up, behind him. He doesn't believe Jed owns the store and so they are arrested for breaking and entering. Jed calls home to tell Granny that he is only allowed one phone call and for her to contact Mr. Drysdale. Granny tells Elly to run over and wake Drysdale but Elly asks why they don't just call him on the phone. Granny says because they were only allowed one phone call. Elly shouts at Drysdale's bedroom window that her father has been arrested and so Drysdale rushes downtown in his pyjamas. Drysdale is arrested for indecent exposure for being in public in his pyjamas but I doubt that would be considered indecent. Today is Drysdale's secretary, Jane Hathaway's birdwatching morning and so they have to wait until she is finished and gets the message. When she comes in looking like an overgrown boy scout in her bird watching outfit, the cop in charge of the jail thinks she's drunk. 

            They eventually get released and Granny begins to set up the fancy dress shop like an old country store with a pot belly stove, a pickle barrel, a cracker barrel, a checker board and a barber's chair. She stocks the shop with old style hillbilly dresses and "The House of Renée" is changed to "The House of Granny". 

            Drysdale and Jane come to visit but Jane sneaks away, leaving Drysdale to be subjected to a bloody shave and a very bad haircut from Granny. When he gets back to the bank with bandages all over his face he forces Jane to go the store and keep Granny company. 

            Maurice the doorman shows up at 11:00 and Granny fires him, but Jed doesn't want to put anyone out of work. He asks Maurice what he'd liked to do and he says all his life he's wanted to be a couturier. Jed doesn't know what that is but he says Maurice can do it, so he runs home to get his sketches. A high society woman arrives at the door of the store just as Maurice gets back. She says she's looking for a complete ensemble for a world cruise and Maurice says he has sketches for just the thing. He tells her to go inside the store while he gets them but when she meets Granny and has a pickle placed in her fancy glove she is horrified and runs for the door into Maurice's arms. Jed decides to give the store to Maurice and Drysdale calls Jane in as a witness. She walks in with a horrible hairdo courtesy of Granny's curling iron. 

            Maurice was played by Maurice Marsac, who worked in the French embassy in London in the 1930s and was a captain in the French Army reserves. He worked with the French Resistance during WWII. He came to the United States as a wine salesman. His first movie appearance was in Paris After Dark in 1942. He played General Gaspard in The New Avengers. He played in over 150 films and TV shows but tended to be typecast as snooty French waiters. He was a nationally ranked croquet player and played for the Beverly Croquet Club. 

            I searched for bedbugs and my toothpick dragged one out of a crack on the lower left-hand side of the old exit door at the head of my bed. It didn't have fresh blood inside.