"Damp Squib"?

sluggo
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1476
Joined: Wed Apr 12, 2006 1:58 pm
Location: Carolinia Agrestícia: The Forest Primeval

"Damp Squib"?

Postby sluggo » Sat Nov 24, 2007 3:54 am

In a bio of the recently passed Ira Levin:
"'This Perfect Day' (1970), a Huxleyan story of a future controlled by technocrats, was something of a damp squib, but in 1972 he again hit the jackpot with The Stepford Wives."

-Anyone know this expression? There are several Google definitions as well as contextual inference; I just never heard it before and wonder as to its derivation.

What would its opposite be?
('Cuz I rather liked the book) :o
Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots! Knife no one, fink!

Perry
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2306
Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2006 9:50 am
Location: Asheville, NC

Postby Perry » Sat Nov 24, 2007 5:12 pm

I believe that a squib is a small firecracker. So a damp squib would be one rendered impotent.
"Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. Lately it hasn't been working."
Anonymous

User avatar
gailr
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1945
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2005 11:40 am
Contact:

Re: "Damp Squib"?

Postby gailr » Sun Nov 25, 2007 7:20 pm

In a bio of the recently passed Ira Levin: "'This Perfect Day' (1970), a Huxleyan story of a future controlled by technocrats, was something of a damp squib,
Christ, Marx, Wood and Wei!
Critics can be such wet blankets.
-gailr

sluggo
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1476
Joined: Wed Apr 12, 2006 1:58 pm
Location: Carolinia Agrestícia: The Forest Primeval

Postby sluggo » Mon Nov 26, 2007 6:47 pm

I believe that a squib is a small firecracker. So a damp squib would be one rendered impotent.
Makes perfect sense as such, thanks Per.
Mayhap it's a UKism- I think the article was British.
Christ, Marx, Wood and Wei!
Critics can be such wet blankets.
-gailr
There's a trip down memory lane 8)
You have a reference copy there, I ween? Such taste!
But needs a better rhyme:

"Christ, Marx, Wood and Wei!
How many Huxleyan stories of a future controlled by technocrats'd you trash today?"

hmmm...
Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots! Knife no one, fink!

User avatar
gailr
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1945
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2005 11:40 am
Contact:

Postby gailr » Tue Nov 27, 2007 2:26 am

There's a trip down memory lane 8)
You have a reference copy there, I ween? Such taste!
But needs a better rhyme:

"Christ, Marx, Wood and Wei!
How many Huxleyan stories of a future controlled by technocrats'd you trash today?"

hmmm...
Nice rhyming couplet, sluggo.

Wood, Wei, Christ and Marx,
Gave us posts with lovely snarks.


Yes, I have a reference copy, my tattered-from-rereading paperback from high school, where a fellow iconoclast also suggested Level 7. A pity that Push Button Officer X-127 wasn't restricted to 'damp squibs'.

-gailr

CMW&W! makes an interesting epithet, though...

sluggo
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1476
Joined: Wed Apr 12, 2006 1:58 pm
Location: Carolinia Agrestícia: The Forest Primeval

Postby sluggo » Wed Nov 28, 2007 3:37 pm

Nice rhyming couplet, sluggo.
Just wanted a chance to air out the old chestnut contraction technocrats'd.

Marx, Wood, Wei and Christ,
If this thread continues I'll be surprist.
Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots! Knife no one, fink!

User avatar
gailr
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1945
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2005 11:40 am
Contact:

Postby gailr » Wed Nov 28, 2007 6:43 pm

Just wanted a chance to air out the old chestnut contraction technocrats'd.
And who would not? It's not every day one can drop it into a casual conversation.
Marx, Wood, Wei and Christ,
If this thread continues I'll be surprist.
Wei, Christ, Marx and Wood,
This can't keep up although it should.

sluggo
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1476
Joined: Wed Apr 12, 2006 1:58 pm
Location: Carolinia Agrestícia: The Forest Primeval

Postby sluggo » Thu Nov 29, 2007 11:27 am

Wei, Christ, Marx and Wood,
This can't keep up although it should.
Wood, Wei, Christ and Marx
Thus beget poetic larks

Wei, Christ, Marx and Wood
and surely mine ain't all that good.
Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots! Knife no one, fink!

Bailey
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2114
Joined: Tue Mar 21, 2006 7:51 pm

Postby Bailey » Thu Nov 29, 2007 11:51 am

methinks 'tis time to dry the scrib.

mark not-marx,-Christ-the-way Bailey

Today is the first day of the rest of your life, Make the most of it...
kb









User avatar
gailr
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1945
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2005 11:40 am
Contact:

Postby gailr » Thu Nov 29, 2007 5:33 pm

methinks 'tis time to dry the scrib.
In the context the names were used for the book, it's OK, Bailey. No disrespect is intended here.

Marx, Wood, Wei suffice
To usher in an antichrist.


Christ, Marx, Wood and Wei
Big Brothers must be kept at bay.


-gailr

Bailey
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2114
Joined: Tue Mar 21, 2006 7:51 pm

Postby Bailey » Thu Nov 29, 2007 7:02 pm

no, I was just adding my own perspective.

mark not-quite-as-dumb-as-I-look Bailey

Today is the first day of the rest of your life, Make the most of it...
kb









melissa
Junior Lexiterian
Posts: 74
Joined: Sat Jan 21, 2006 3:30 am

Postby melissa » Fri Nov 30, 2007 1:28 am

Wood, Wei, Christ and Marx,
Gave us posts with lovely snarks.
This is why I come here.

Cacasenno
Lexiterian
Posts: 192
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2007 12:39 pm
Location: Italy

Postby Cacasenno » Fri Dec 28, 2007 4:42 pm

Damp squib = castagnola bagnata.
I can't use that around New year!


Ok for Marx Wood and Wai
But Christ, who is he, I pray? :twisted:

User avatar
gailr
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1945
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2005 11:40 am
Contact:

Postby gailr » Fri Dec 28, 2007 5:31 pm

Damp squib = castagnola bagnata.
I can't use that around New year!
Babelfish, he is not helping me. [Bagnata = bathed?]
But Castagnola is not clear, even with the Googles.
?

Ok for Marx Wood and Wai
But Christ, who is he, I pray? :twisted:
Try here. :wink:

Cacasenno
Lexiterian
Posts: 192
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2007 12:39 pm
Location: Italy

Postby Cacasenno » Sat Dec 29, 2007 7:29 am

Damp squib = castagnola bagnata.
I can't use that around New year!
Babelfish, he is not helping me. [Bagnata = bathed?]
But Castagnola is not clear, even with the Googles.
?


Bagnata = wet, damp
Castagnola = firecracker (slangish I guess; botto generic for any forms of firecracker and firework = fuoco artificiale). Castagnole (plural) were also used placed on top of railtracks to warn trains of impending dangers.


Return to “Idioms”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests