Michal's deliberating on the idea of expanding his modest Fiction Corpus with a history of new art; cites fatigue
Posted:
I regard highly the viability of exercising English as a global lingua franca. I do doubt the debilitating process by which the English language is taught.
Polishing one's deftness for a language isn't like introducing a more comfortable horse collar. A language - a spoken tongue - isn't merely an instrument that you can teach yourself to employ with a greater amount of precision. A shared language can't be pulled from the philosophical currents of a circle of people of which it is a description. A language isn't recited; it happens - and keeps happening as long as a circle of people keeps using it.
Teaching a student to recite English is to deprive her of its cultural context. A capable instructor has to develop a strategy for introducing it; the discerning student goes out to seek it.
A dictionary can be an influential tool. The best dictionaries describe words on the basis of a specific corpus, a set of written works of varying scope and consistency. A corpus may include anything from a book about literature to some real mind control fiction. I lost many a night laboring on my "superb" Fiction Corpus to form a distinct type of dictionary based on the ability of one man to tell a story in many different forms. It is a labor of love and listening.
I have crafted a million words and I have ordered them, reshaping them - not just to teach a language but to describe the human soul, and to encourage that spirit or soul not just to recite but to happen.
A word can represent many things. First and foremost it represents a type of gesture. A specific way of speaking. A specific way of inscribing a mark. A specific way of moving your hand. To know one of these kinds of gestures is to know how to pronounce the word sign in some kind of way.
If you want to communicate an idea using the word sign, you will need to know what other people are made to think when you make the gesture. You will never have complete awareness of or control over the associations or identities that are invoked by a set of words, but you can know what was and what is a single word's jointly accepted definition, at least for a given place, thereby tracing a direction which will help you to understand what kinds of associations and identities are driving its use.
By using the word yourself, you enter into a long-standing albeit oftentimes unconscious debate over its definition, forever entangling yourself into the history of its use. The way you use it, and which other words you use it with carries weight.
The more you know about where the word sign is located in the fabric of a language, the better you will be at exploiting its cultural power.
Pronunciation of Sign
I have yet to publish a pronunciation for the word sign.
Video of me pronouncing "sign."
Definition of Sign
I have yet to publish the definition of sign.
I'm sure it won't take too long.
Common use of sign in illustrative example sentences
I have yet to come up with a fifth sentence using the word sign.
Audio of me saying the sentence:
I have yet to come up with a sixth sentence using the word sign.
Audio of me saying the sentence:
I have yet to come up with a seventh sentence using the word sign.
Audio of me saying the sentence:
Usage of Sign in Michal's Fiction Corpus
Michal's Fiction Corpus of Acceptance Literature (FiCAL) is presented under the Bare Bottom imprint. It is currently comprised of six bodies of work, each representing a different pillar of culture and incorporating a wide variety of writhing styles.
I have yet to make a morphological analysis of the word sign.
That doesn't mean it's not high on my list.
Table of Frequency for the Word "Sign."
This table lists in descending order the total number of times that the word signand any of its morphological derivations appears in the Fiction Corpus, along with a breakdown of frequency by title, the respective rank of each word in the complete list of all words in the Corpus, as calculated both densely and competitively, as well as the percent increase in frequency of the word over the frequency of the next lowest rank in the complete list.
Percent Increase over next rank
RANK
WORD
Frequency
TOTAL # of occurences
MCDONALDS
JESUS
SEX
TSIGA
JACKSON
DINGBATS
dense
competitive
modern/sloppy
biblical/terse
poetic/high-brow
hard/fast
talky
mixed salad
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
I have yet to publish the table of frequency for the word sign, but I will get to it shortly. -Michal
A story bible for a comic book series set in a post climate-change California narrated by eight characters who live through a natural disaster that sinks Los Angeles and triggers a war with an expansionist Mexican government covertly supported by China.
Frame #4390
im on the back porch of reddit's house. except for the chimes theres no movement in the yard. no sign of reddit or piiia through the windows.
An experimental science fiction Christology that makes Jesus the hard boiled narrator of his own early years on a bizarro earth made dark by volcanic ash and informally ruled by a man from Mars who sells bottled air.
There was something different about her face: something changed. It looked quiet and resolved: resigned: at peace - mature. She looked more mature than Jesus had ever seen her look before, as she neared Jesus's bed in Jesus's pajamas. There's a woman inside of her somewhere - he thought to himself - I can feel it.
The Marshall of Parliament waited five long years (and became Marshall of Parliament) before he was judged a liar for the second time (this time, on appeal). He appealed once again and initially resisted calls for his resignation, but even his own party, to whose leadership he had just been elected three days earlier, was unwilling to support him. They had entered government a few years before with fifty percent approval ratings in national polls and were now down to five. They were suffering not only from the whole Russian spy-chairman of the board debacle, but also from a film producer's corrupt solicitation of potentially very beneficial legislation to a large media firm allegedly in the name of the Prime Minister and his cronies, and also from a case where two Parliamentary deputies revealed state secrets by warning their friends in local government of impending arrest, and also from a case where the husband of one of the Prime Minister's cronies was arrested for taking money in exchange for arranging the privatization of a public power plant and then using that money to finance his wife's political campaign. In that particular case, the woman's sister-in-law and niece were simultaneously arrested for conspiracy and immediately confessed to their own guilt. It was very refreshing.
"What the fuck is this?" continued the Krupnik. "You know what this is? This is the fuckin' line to the goddamn checkpoint. We're gonna be here for fuckin' two hours or more. When we cross this bridge, you can wave hello to the goddamn howitzers. What the fuck is going on? This planet: it's madness. This is worse than usual - and usually, it's pretty fuckin' bad. That Lipski's gonna have to pay for this - goddamn it: it's not his fault. It's the goddamn situation. It's fuckin' terrorists, outer-space pirates, American interests - goddamn it. It's a good thing this city has a moat - if not for that, fuckin' Lipski wouldn't know where to put his troops. I can read him like a goddamn book. Once we shoot around on this bypass, we can ram ourselves up his goddamn ass. Why do you think I left the hood red? That's a sign for the terrorists. This way, they won't shoot us. Goddamn it! Welcome to the fuckin' party, boy. I hope you like it."
At first, we danced without touching. She avoided my hands and kept space between our bodies. We gyrated our hips and kicked our legs. Your mother enjoyed kicking her legs, as though she didn't want anyone to get very close to her. We swung our hands about and yanked our feet. We wigwagged, made signs to each other, and winked. We rolled our shoulders and twitched our heads. Finally, there was no escape: I took her hand and placed my arm around her waist. I led; she followed. I moved her to the rhythm of the dance. I let her spin. She stepped in between my legs, wrapped around them, and back. She felt the magic. I communicated. Speaking with movement, she responded. She felt the force of my hand: its presence; then, its absence. She understood its meaning. She yielded, then moved ahead. She stepped on my toes. We bumped into each other.
The MTA stationed itself around Olympus Mons and around every major point on the irrigation system, which, after decades upon decades of eager development, became vast and unknowable to men, penetrating far-flung regions with massive amounts of pressure, complicated systems and safeguards, gauges, unseen aqueducts forming strange and multifarious designs - mostly thanks to geography, of course, but also thanks to economics and evolving technology, which insisted on placing new pipes next to old ones, better pumps next to broken ones, and whole new branches of irrigation in previously undeveloped areas wherever greenhouses popped up, according to the most recent wind patterns, leaving old branches completely abandoned wherever dust had made growing unfavorable - but whose first and greatest branch went straight down (in order to beat the Southern Ice Cap Company into submission) to the southern hemisphere, to the Hellas basin, where, being the lowest point on Mars, the first permanent settlements were made (in the dubious hope that the elevation and increased pressure would somehow prove useful to Martian civilization) which, in turn, came to coalesce and grow into the modern urban giant called Centropolis.
A literature book narrated by a pair of siblings on either side of the Atlantic whose profoundly weird sexual experiences pose a serious challenge to their traditional understanding of mathematicians, marriage, gay young men and God.
Perhaps I will read them your letter and ask for each one's opinion. Ah, but they might scoff: they may be grumpy, rich people - who knows? They may be philistines. Nowadays, money can only signify itself, and the fact that one is wealthy means only that one possesses a lot of money; no other conclusion can be logically drawn.
– Title 3, Regarding a Dream, Chapter 1, The First Day, Part 1, Victory & Calendar Reform, Section 3, Wondering, Paragraph 1, Clauses 2-5
I will say that Macy pretended to be thoroughly impressed, and I daresay, I think my performance may have had a significant effect on him; in fact, it may have been the inspiration for much of what transpired a few days after we closed the show, during our first real encounter together in a long time.
NIKE: I'm workin' on it. This is definitely a two-pronged attack. The Internet is one market. But clubs and bars are another - not to mention stores and restaurants, of course. But all of them will have the choice to create their own meads: that's the beauty of it. And they can commission whatever kind of mead they want: I'll design it for them. It'll fit whatever theme they've got going - and: it'll taste good too.
Saying these words, Indiana got up from her knee, not taking her eyes off me in the mirror. We looked at each other's reflections for a moment, and then, using them as a guide, she slowly placed her hand along my jaw, catching and squeezing between her fingers my pendulous lobe, using her thumb to stroke my cheek before slowly dragging her hand along my bone, savoring the bristling of my shaven beard - those tiny hairs resisting, then yielding, surrendering - and, brushing down like this until her fingers were poised on the tip of my chin, she turned our heads together, and looking down at me she whispered, "You are very beautiful." And then she bent down to kiss me. So she did kiss me. She kissed me on my forehead. She kissed me on my forehead and then she said, "Let's go." She kissed me on my forehead and left me sitting there intoxicated, wondering as to what had just transpired - if it were truly so - and what the significance of such fabulous events could be.
– Title 3, Regarding a Dream, Chapter 1, The First Day, Part 1, Victory & Calendar Reform, Section 9, Intoxication, Paragraph 199
But when he returned, he confronted his daughter about the window and she turned to him and said: "I have done this because three windows lighten all the world and all creatures, but two make darkness," whereupon she explained to him the significance of the Holy Trinity, which did not sit well with her pagan father: he brought her before the magistrate, who, for the sake of her pagan soul, prescribed extensive torture, and, after a lengthy period of suffering, she was beheaded by her own father.
A collection of stories featuring a sexy Parisian ghost, a spooky Moon base full of vagina-faced aliens, a policeman with an Irish name, a truck full of watermelons, a flautist, and a man who has to see another man about a diseased horse.
Junior shouldn't have been surprised. Middle-aged matrons masquerading as sex maniacs do not marry men who have not yet come into their inheritance. Everybody knows that. Seeking refuge among women he would never want to marry, Junior's career took a significant slide.
"No," cried Harry Connick. "You're not pulling anybody out of this race. If the horse falls, we'll fall together. I don't care if you have to peel me off the track. I've been spineless my entire life. I'm not backing down now. Don't you understand? I've been afraid of everything-even my beloved wife. That's why I'm here. God knows every time she sat next to me, I cringed. I squeezed my legs so tight, I cracked my own nuts. Not anymore. I'm not going to let them keep dividing us between black and white, the thin and the morbidly obese, the rich and the middle-class. It's over. I've seen the promised land. It's a horseshoe-shaped circle paved with bricks. There's a sign hangin' above it. The sign says, 'Winner.' Now I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm walking into that circle if I have to crawl over a dead horse and die. Who's with me?" Everybody cheered.
Ferrari wasn't stupid. When a cherry tree in the Baron's orchard was mysteriously chopped down, he knew exactly what it meant. It was a threat to his control. He searched for the evidence everywhere-from his father's house to the Baron's keep. There was no sign of it. He shadowed Lorenzo for days. He only left him alone to give Carmina her lesson.
Perhaps flashing a badge in the midday sun blinded him, as Juanita later testified; perhaps he was frightened by Patsy's bare chest, as Patsy himself claimed. Regardless, he ran over the dunes, through the bush, across the main road, and right past the sign that said, "From this point on, you may encounter nude sunbathers."
Patsy, who had led the chase, stopped to catch his breath. Juanita was close behind. "God," he gasped, turning around, "I love it when you run."
A real play. With drama in it. Talk fast. It takes two hours. Set in a guest house. In a small community. After a murder. Lots of suspicion. The characters learn to listen to each other. It's funny.
"Sign" does not make an appearance in Sorry Miss Jackson.
A story book full of short fiction stories. An interesting bedtime mystery. A fairy tale. Science fiction romance. Adult life. Uninspiring gay fiction. Horror.
Adam was gay. The intimacy of his relationship with Steve O was sending him the wrong signals. Especially when Steve O was really drunk and wielding his naked balls like a pair of nunchunks. Adam decided to try respectfully to step things up. The results were disastrous. As soon as Steve O realized what Adam's hand was doing and where his lips were, he basically borrowed the strength of ten men to heave him up and out of the room. The friendship suffered.
Captain Orbitz came from a long line of distinguished galactic luminaries. His father and his brother had been martyred in a great battle against the forces of Scutum-Centauris. His grandfather was a delagate to the Grand Orion Council from the planet Vancouver. His lineage went all the way to one of the leaders of the original humanoid slave revolt. He was sacrosanct. When his name was red-flagged at the security bureau it was summarily dismissed as an error. It was red-flagged again. And again. Somebody by the name of Rishi Keplar Jorgen Tycho Kalvinicus Orbitz was having associations with the outlawed Wiki-en Society. People went crazy. They wanted him arrested. They wanted him interrogated. There was only one problem. Orbitz was on assignment. He was the second longest-serving courier in the Alliance. He was traversing a wormhole.
I got out. I shut the door. I walked to the porch. Indiana turned the car around. I watched her roll it to the end of the driveway. The turn signal blinked. It was bright red. The engine howled. Gravel churned beneath tires.
I opened the school the next day. There were birds nesting in the furnace. I thought it was a good sign. I left them there for the sake of the students. I wanted us to remove them together as a way of bonding. No students came. I sat in the room by myself until the afternoon with nothing but chirping to keep me company. I asked the headman if the villagers knew I had come. He said he would take care of it.
We need only refer to nineteenth century French literature to confirm this. According to Anatole France, Saint Paphnutius was destroyed by a look. Struck by the sight of Thais on stage, as she played the role of pure-hearted Polyxena, lifting the curtain with her white arm, pride and resignation in her violet eyes, the hermit monk, sent to save the whore from her dissipation, grew so infatuated with her image, learning later she was on her death bed, surrounded by her fellow nuns, he begged her petulantly not to die, rejecting Heaven, as she rose, moments before her final breath, to proclaim a vision of God with such rapture in her eyes, it held for poor Paphnutius the profound emptiness of his own soul. He turned into a vampire. That is the power of a look.
This table lists in descending order of frequency a selection of word pairs that appear in the Fiction Corpus and groups them according to the morphological derivation of the word sign that appears in the pair.
Type
WORD
Frequency
TOTAL # of occurences
MCDONALDS
JESUS
SEX
TSIGA
JACKSON
DINGBATS
modern/sloppy
biblical/terse
poetic/high-brow
hard/fast
talky
mixed salad
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
I have yet to perform a collocation analysis of "sign." I hope I can get it done sometime soon. -Michal
To promote democracy, the strong must empty themselves of their strength. The weak must be granted the opportunity to grow strong. We cannot force the end of patriarchy. To do so simply perpetuates feudalism under a different name.
Your support keeps the "Sign" page alive...
If you love women and art...
Michal is importing Polish art...is he cuckoo?
Michal's Sales Pitch Lot 1: Silesian Handicrafts
T-shirt fundraiser for sale
Last T-Shirt with the logo that I designed.
From a set of, I believe, twenty produced by Margo and given out to a portion of the last 20 women to finish the 20th anniversary Fiat Road Race in Bielsko-Biała, cf. the movie. This is the last one left in it's original packaging and my supporters - like the poor women of Bielsko - are going to have to fight for it. Whoever invests the most money with me, and who lets me borrow it to invest in the next lot, will not only be rewarded with some beautiful piece of art, but will get this priceless t-shirt as a reward for being my top supporter. $1000.00 or best offer. Remember to authorize me to hold the sum as credit against a future purchase and to authorize me to borrow against it.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #1 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
Felt handbag for sale
Felt bag by Dorota.
Entirely hand-sewn. Base: polyester felt, 100% PE. Motif: South American woolen yarn, dyed, 100% wool. Hand-worked with a needle. Unique and inimitable design. Inside: cotton fabric, closes with zipper, inside pocket. Available now for $220.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #2 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
Decorative collar for sale
Decorative collar by Zuzanna.
Ethnic layered cloth jewelry constructed on a cotton base and adorned with ribbons, tassels, and a yellow fringe. Fastened on the side with 11 buttons, fitted entirely with a pleasant lining. The style is an Indo-Asian-African multinational color combination. The collar is very extravagant and an extraordinary addition to any clothing, guaranteed to attract attention. Just a simple dress and a unique image is ready. Dry-cleaning recommended. Available now for $200.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #3 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
Seamless handbag for sale
Handbag by Sylwia.
Handmade from felted all-natural Australian and South American wool. Entirely felted, seamless. Finished with a white lining, inside is a small pocket. Lining is sewn and stitched in by hand. Available now for $180.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #4 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
Patchwork quilt for sale
Patchwork quilt by Alicja.
Bedspread made of cotton and polyester material. Inserted with polyester lining. 90 by 70 cm. Available now for $120.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #5 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
Nuno-felt shawl for sale
Shawl by Sylwia.
Scarf made with the nuno felting technique (wet felting fibre into a silk gauze) using South American wool. Two-sided scarf with latticework at the ends. Wholly in the colors red, black, green in an abstract pattern. Available now for $100.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #6 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
Clara the doll for sale
Clara by Alicja.
Clara loves roses and greenery, adores tormenting spiders with long legs and sleeping soundly in the afternoon. Cuddly toy made of cotton and polyester, stuffed with polyester lining. Available now for $70.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #7 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
Noah the doll for sale
Noah by Alicja.
Noah doesn't know what to like and what not to like but keeps wondering and thinking about it. Cuddly toy made of cotton and polyester, stuffed with polyester lining. Available now for $70.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #8 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
Black suspenders for sale
Black suspenders by Zuzanna.
Two-sided suspenders from black material with a rose motif on one side and striped cotton on the other. Connected by a leather triangle. Adjustable length. Hand washing in cold water recommended. Available now for $50.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #9 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
Orange suspenders for sale
Orange suspenders by Zuzanna.
Two-sided suspenders made of denim and orange material with a Polish floral folk design. Connected by a leather triangle. Adjustable length. Hand washing in cold water recommended. Available now for $50.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #10 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
Green suspenders for sale
Green suspenders by Zuzanna.
Two-sided suspenders made of denim and green material with a mountain folk design. Connected by a leather triangle. Adjustable length. Hand washing in cold water recommended. Available now for $50.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #11 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
Felt earrings for sale
Felt earrings by Dorota.
Material: South American woolen yarn, dyed, 100% wool. Hand-worked with a needle. Pendant of anti-allergenic metal. Available now for $40.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #12 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
Round ceramic earrings for sale
Round ceramic earrings by Dorota.
Material: Glazed ceramics, hand-molded. Available now for $40.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #13 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
Oblong ceramic earrings for sale
Oblong ceramic earrings by Dorota.
Material: Glazed ceramics, hand-molded. Available now for $40.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #14 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
'Coral' necklace for sale
Corals by Sylwia.
Necklace made of cotton pieces with organdy and decorated with beads, suspended on cotton strings. Can be worn as a necklace, as a brooch or as a belt tied at the side. Available now for $40.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.
To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #15 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.
Michal Recommends:
