Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Adhoc (pronounce like Haddock, please) Inspiration!

Have you read any of the famous Tintin comics (I think there are about 22 books...)? If you're out of your teens, I probably should not ask you if you enjoy reading Tintin, for in most cases, people seem to lose their fascination for comics once they come out of college. But I still love the Tintin comics and, some years ago, I invested a princely sum in getting the whole set.

pic from http://packy.dardan.com/walky/albums/album11/aks.jpg

If you're familiar with Tintin, you know there is a character called Captain Haddock (Tintin's best friend) who is quite entertaining. He gets angry pretty quickly and is known for his innovative curses. Two very famous and interesting expressions that Haddock uses whenever he gets emotional are "Ten thousand thundering typhoons" and "Billions of blue blistering barnacles". Inspired by these, I was trying to get my creative juices to flow and ended up inventing something "in between"(Between thousand and billion ;-)).

Here is what I came up with. Copyrights reserved! OK? Millions of mad, muddled, merry, mischievous and mesmerized monkeys. Probably many more Ms than what Captain Haddock might care for....but I believe in going the extra mile in everything I do (hey, the Ms in this statement are not intentional....just a mild coincidence). So, I patted myself on a job well done and made a note to use it whenever and wherever appropriate. I did use it 'on' a close friend (people gotta be quite close to me take such nonsense and not want to kill me) who fortunately lapped up the story of the monkeys and we even enjoyed a silly chat revolving around the expression.

Then, when I caught up with a nephew who has just stepped into his teens, I recalled that he is a big fan of Tintin and shared my expression with him. He nonchalantly accepted it as food for thought but went on to teach me to be better. I should have known not to try my nonsensically smart ideas with tomorrow's generation (Gen Z?). I am bound to be beaten to death. Anyways, the nephew taught me how the expression could be improved. He made it Millions of mad, muddled, merry, mischievous, mesmerized, mean, marvellous, and menacing monkeys on a mission from Mesopotamia. Want to join the game and try harder? Mind the Ms.

PS: I hope your expression right now isn't similar to that of Haddock's in the pic above.

7 comments:

Deepa said...

good one...quite entertaining :-)

Nimmy said...

sigh. ya, i enjoyed the experience....it's not often that you get to indulge in such nonsense. my policy is to capitalize on nonsense when it comes to you. and one of the best ways to soak in the experience is to write about it...and make it visual...pictures what not. :-)

so, where's your attempt to Mind the Ms? come on...you can do it!!

broca's area said...

hmm.....dint understood much but its good!!:)

Nimmy said...

Hey pratap! :-)hahha
what part of the post did you not understand....? I know it's quite nonsensical overall....but...if you let me know what exactly went over your head, I'll try and make it less nonsensical for you :-).

Deepa said...

Okay, I cudnt stop myself from posting it here :-D
naughty n naturally nutty normally not normal Nirmala

Nimmy said...

deepa voyager!!!oooooooooohhhhhh.....i can't deny that your invention is awesome....:-) despite the fact that you broke the rules of the game and settled for the next alphabet... ;-) hahaaa...enjoyyyyy

Lakshmi Bharadwaj said...

Agreed about the comics-becoming too old as people grow older part! I'm a grt fan of Tintin comics too! Nicely written.