Spiral

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bnjtokyo
Lexiterian
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Spiral

Postby bnjtokyo » Sat Dec 24, 2022 3:31 am

From The New Yorker
"He dined cheerfully and unapologetically with a spiralling Kanye West and a young neo-fascist named Nick Fuentes." ("The Devastating New History of January 6th Insurrection" David Remnick, Dec 22, 2022)
What does "spiralling" mean in this context? It seems to me that "spiral" as a verb needs a prepositional phrase specifying a direction or end state. For example "The situation could spiral into a disaster" or "Smoke spiraled up from the burning building"
PS: A typo in The New Yorker? Shocking!

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Slava
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Re: Spiral

Postby Slava » Sat Dec 24, 2022 6:03 am

I found a couple of vague possibilities on Urban Dictionary, but I agree, this is a strange use with no context to put it into. Coming from Remnick I'm surprised, too.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

brogine
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Re: Spiral

Postby brogine » Sat Dec 24, 2022 9:35 pm

I think it’s just ‘hip’ shorthand for ‘spiraling down (the drain)’.


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