We’ve all heard the phrase…”Don’t eat yellow snow!” For those of you unfamiliar with it, the warning is meant to discourage people from accidentally consuming snow that has been contaminated with urine – either animal or otherwise. It’s also the title of a 1974 classic song by Frank Zappa. I’ve never actually heard of anybody who’s eaten contaminated snow, which is kind of weird because the phrase is one of the more recognized sayings around.
This is a great example of a simple expression that…on its surface is says one thing…but upon closer examination communicates much much more. As writers we strive for that, creating multi-layered passages that give the reader pause. I would venture to say that it’s almost the holy grail of writing…increasing the word meaning without increasing the word count.
:)
I saw an episode of Jackass where someone ate yellow snow...freshly peed on yellow snow. It was gross. My brother made me watch it.
ReplyDeleteIck. Yellow snow. Even worse . . . brown snow from tobacco chew . . . sometimes seen at ski areas.
ReplyDeleteIncreasing word meaning w/o word count, I like that. I feel like symbolism can do that too, but I would never use yellow snow as one.
ReplyDelete;-) here's a smile for you. I'm enjoying your goofy posts! HA!
ReplyDeleteI'm not doing too good at this catch-up thing. That post above was meant for your X post, but I put it on this Y post. Ah well, you know me. I did read them both.
ReplyDeleteI like one compact word instead of many, except when I'm writing middle grade. I struggle to find a way to fit a complex idea into kid think and sometimes big words don't work.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't have thought of yellow snow as being so vital to writing. LOL.
ReplyDeleteLove your twisted mind.
-J @JLenniDorner