Discourse
Our friend Mark Anthony Jones has invited us to peruse his new site, “China Discourse”, and to share our first impressions. Here are mine, while Catherine will chime in later:
So far I’ve only read the introductory page, and my first question is, Mark, why do you constantly use the postmodern jargon term “discourse” instead of its simpler, old fashioned synonym, “essay”? And what is the necessity, if any, to call your essays “texts”?
I mean, your overemployment (without paying extra wages for overtime!) of the word “discourse” reminds me of the theme song from the delightfully lowbrow 1960s American tv sitcom, “Mister Ed.” Here is a video of the opening song, and here are the lyrics:
A horse is a horse, of course, of course,
And no one can talk to a horse of course
That is, of course, unless the horse is the famous Mr. Ed.Go right to the source and ask the horse
He’ll give you the answer that you’ll endorse.
He’s always on a steady course.
Talk to Mr. Ed.People yakkity yak a streak and waste your time of day
But Mister Ed will never speak unless he has something to say.A horse is a horse, of course, of course,
And this one’ll talk ’til his voice is hoarse.
You never heard of a talking horse?Well listen to this:
I am Mister Ed!
So let’s spin those lyrics around, from me to you, MAJ:
Discourse is discourse, of course, of course,
But no one can talk through discourse, of course,
That is, of course, unless discourse
Becomes dissed by MAJ.
Stop saying “discourse”, because DIS course
Of yours is a habit I don’t endorse;
Postmodern jargon is a farce,
PLEASE JUST TALK, MAJ!
