FSB Author Article
What's up
Wittgenstein?
By Marc Blatte,
Author
of Humpty Dumpty Was Pushed: A Novel
Wherever I go in the English speaking
world someone will say something in words that are completely
familiar but leave me scratching my head wondering "What the
hell is he talking about?"
Take the expression
"What's up?"
The traditional answers are often
one of several that have been easy to wrap my head around? There's
the old ubiquitous NY evasive favorite, answer a question with a
question, "Ey! What's up?" Which I always feel is an
invitation to ask no further. Also in "ask no further"
category are "Fine" "Good" "How you doin'?",
and "Not bad."
The favored new response is
"It's all good". When I first heard it I innocently took it
as an affirmation that everything was "swell". But later it
occurred to me it could mean just the opposite like when it is
preceded by actual facts that I assumed were not good . . . "I
lost my job". . . "My wallet is missing" . . . "My
new car was hit by a truck driven by an uninsured driver" . . .
followed by "but it's all good".
For several
months I flowed with it and let it slide. Eventually my curiosity got
the better of me and I stupidly asked someone why after a litany of
personal tragedy, he was compelled to say "it's all good"?
The reply was one of anguished disbelief that turned into curious
incredulity that turned into a big smile from which came "You're
joking, right?" Thankfully I am a big fan of Ludwig and his
Philosophy of Language, and have taken his notion that language
derives it's meaning from use, to heart. Bolstered by the W-man I was
enabled to respond in the appropriate way which was a confident
"right".
Which reminds me of joke from another
era, maybe Ludwig even knew it, about an elderly immigrant, who is
hit by a car on New York's upper west side. He is lying in the middle
of the street when a Good Samaritan who has witnessed the accident
runs over to him, takes his own overcoat off and quickly places it
under the man's head. "Are you comfortable?" the reclining
man is asked.
His reply, "I make a living."
Copyright © 2009 Marc
Blatte author of Humpty
Dumpty Was Pushed: A Novel
Author
Bio
Marc Blatte, author of Humpty
Dumpty Was Pushed: A Novel, a native
and longtime resident of New York City, grew up in the Bronx, played
baseball in the Roy Campanella Little League and was a protege of the
bestselling author Ed McBain.
After a brief stint west of the
Hudson at Kenyon College, Marc returned to the city that never sleeps
to become a wunderkind of the songwriting industry, dubbed by
legendary record producer Clive Davis as one of the "fortunate
ones." He has composed material for major stars, and was
nominated for a Grammy Award for best R&B Song.
He has
shaken Joe Frazier's hand at Small's Paradise, danced with Sherry
Lansing, fixed Debbie Harry's sink, met Henry Kissinger, and had an
unexpected visit from the Wu Tang Clan. He has worked as a golf
caddy, Rotor Rooter man, tenement superintendent, keyboard player in
a lounge band, was a hip-hop white boy pioneer record producer . . .
and lived to tell.
The father of three daughters, Marc and his
wife Jeanne divide their time between New York and Nicaragua. He is
currently at work on his next mystery featuring Black Sallie Blue
Eyes.